Loving God with the Mind

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.”

Deuteronomy 6:4-5 NIV

https://bible.com/bible/128/deu.6.4-5.NIV 

“A Call and a Command”

I have been thinking for some time about the universal commandment of all Christians to love God with the mind and the specific call of some believers to pursue specialized knowledge and intellectual influence (in any field).

Some Christians, and especially the intellectual leaders of the church, are called to higher levels of knowledge. They are theologians, biblical scholars, pastors, and ministry leaders. In addition, many believers are called to serve God as scientists, artists, teachers, writers, doctors, and astronauts, just to name a few.

On the other hand, all Christians are commanded to love God with their minds (Deuteronomy 6:4–5; Mark 12:30). How this works in practice depends on many variables, including access to learning formats, financial resources, and aptitude.

However, in neither case, neither in the calling nor in the command, is biblical ignorance a God-honoring choice. Illiteracy, biblical and theological, is spiritually dangerous, regardless of your field of study or level of education. Theologian John Frame expressed this truth this way:

It is astonishing that Christians are so willing to identify the lordship of Christ in matters of worship, salvation, and ethics, but not in matters of thought. Yet, (...) in Scripture, God repeatedly demands obedience from His people in matters of wisdom, thought, knowledge, understanding, and the like.

Whatever our level of education and our type of thinker, we must love God with our minds. As disciples (learners) of Jesus, we must deeply understand the biblical worldview.

To put it another way, how we use our minds is an essential part of biblical spirituality. Both the specialized call to the life of the mind and the general commandment to intellectual piety are part of a holistic spirituality that loves God with all our mind, soul, and strength, and also loves our neighbors (Mark 12:30–31).

Prayer to Memorize and Meditate On: "That you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old self, which is corrupted by its deceitful desires, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind" (Ephesians 4:22–23 ESV).

By Dr. Richard L. Smith