HOW TO LOVE GOD WITH ALL YOUR MIND

How we are commanded to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. These four ways need to be understood in order to love the Lord well.

Mark 12:30 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength”

The renewed mind plays a vital role in loving Jesus. The Lord said that if we are ever going to understand the Kingdom our minds need to be constantly renewed (Matt. 4:17). In Romans 12:2 Paul states that a major part of being transformed into the image and likeness of Jesus must require our minds being renewed. It’ a big deal.

Let’s look at the mind. The language of the mind is images. Often our mind is an ongoing movie screen that provides pictures and words that are endless. So much of our life is lived in our minds because we can never turn our minds off. We find ourselves constantly seeing images being played for us or holding a conversation in our mind. Sometimes all at the same time.

The Lord created us this way for ceaseless communion with Him. It is the continual reality and stream of our life. When our body sleeps our mind stays active dreaming through the night.

To love God with all our mind is a supernatural possibility. Though the mind is never meant to rule the heart it can be used to affectionately love the Lord. As our mind is renewed the Holy Spirit releases supernatural activity to love Jesus more.

Here are four unique ways to love the Lord with our minds.

 1. Reason

Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD:”

To reason is to think, understand and form judgments by a process of logic. I believe that part of loving God with all our mind is loving him logically. For guys like me this is a relief. I enjoy strategic thinking and order. God has given this as a gift.

I must note though, that reason should never trump revelation. The mind is the learner not the leader. The heart is the leader. Many times the heart receives from the Lord first and  the mind cannot make sense of it, at least initially.  Eventually the mind catches up with what the heart received.

When we prize reason over revelation we have a God made in our own image and likeness. Faith in many ways goes beyond reason. It looks to the impossible and trusts in the All-Knowing God.

Yet reason is powerful. We can systematically and logically look at the ways God has intersected our lives and give Him praise.

 2. Knowledge

Heb. 10:16 “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.”

To love God with all our mind involves taking time to fill our mind with God’s Word and to rightly agree with who He is. When we grow in truth we gain knowledge.

“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”

When we come into agreement with God it awakens love in us. Love itself includes great depths of knowledge. Loving God is continually refueled when the mind encounters truth over and over.

Knowing truth and loving God are deeply connected. Jesus is the Truth. As our mind grows in the knowledge of Jesus we are liberated to love Him more.

 3. Memory

Isaiah 63:7 “I will tell of the kindnesses of the LORD, the deeds for which he is to be praised, according to all the LORD has done for us.”

The Bible is filled with commands to remember. Memories lead to gratefulness and worship. When we use our minds to remember His kindness, faithfulness, patience, peace etc. we build a foundation of faith, hope and love. We are loving God with our remembrance.

For some, we cannot forget the negative events of the past because the past has a voice. We must triumph over it with truth. Don’t allow your past to freeze you but rather lead you into the depths of God’s love. Our thinking about the past can affect us positively by remembering the truth about God’s goodness toward us in forgiving, delivering and providing for us.

 

Psa. 8:3 “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained;”

Isa. 55:8 “My thoughts are completely different from yours,” says the LORD. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.”

God has given the mind the power to imagine. Some call it dreaming big dreams. Some say get a “picture” of your future. While others say if you can see it, you can be it. Imagination sees, creates and thinks outside the box.

In our imagination heavens thoughts can come to us and be captured. With our imagination we actually can extend our knowledge to explore the possibilities we have in God in all areas of our lives. This releases love which is anchored in faith.

We have the mind of Christ. Let’s love Him with it!

Phil. 4:8  ”And now, dear brothers and sisters, let me say one more thing as I close this letter. Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think aboutthings that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”

Your Turn:  Why do you think Jesus made sure the mind was a big part of loving the Lord?