Let My People Think Series

3. Thinking about “Christian topics”

Yes, we ought to think about prayer in a Biblically-informed manner. Yes, we ought to think about the importance of Bible study, and church attendance, and winning people to Christ. Of course those things ought to be on our “thought-list”. But loving God with our minds isn’t confined to certain Biblical topics; rather, we ought to think Christianly about the Middle East conflict, and global warming, and bio-ethics, and squirrels, and little green apples! To love God with the mind, instead of segregating itself into a Christian ghetto, involves bringing our thoughts of the whole of the world under the Lordship of Jesus.

So, loving God with our minds is more than taking the “Christian position” on issues, more than just thinking about “Christian stuff”, more than simply the thinking that Christians do. If it is more than these things, then what does it involve?

B. What it does involve

The word “mind” in the Greek language is the word dianoia, and it means the faculty of knowing, understanding, or moral reflection. How do I love God with understanding? First, loving God with my mind involves

1. What we think about – Philippians 4:8-9

Here’s a quick question: “is there anything about which a Christian ought not think?” Don’t answer too quickly! Let me put it in clearer terms: ought a Christian to think, for instance, about pornography? Truth is, it’s a trick question, because the answer to the question could be either “yes” or “no” depending upon what is meant, and allow me to explain both! There is a “yes” side to that question, and it is this: I ought to be clear on what the Bible teaches about viewing pornography, about the sin of lust, in this case. I ought to know what the Word says about that sin, and then think through how I can be careful to avoid it! And so in that sense, there is no subject about which I ought not think Christianly, about which I ought not love God with my mind.

But of course, there is a “no” side of the equation as well, and we find that in Philippians 4:8-9, which instructs us on the things we allow our minds to dwell on. Paul says that our thought material, for meditation purposes, ought to be those things that are true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, and of good repute! That rules some things in and some other things out! A Christian who is learning to love God all of her mind will want to run from those things which she knows are likely to lead to a mind that is filled with stuff that is untrue, dishonorable, wrong, impure, ugly, and of ill repute. Conversely, the Word of God tells us the truth, and the right, and the pure, and all of those things, and to love God with our minds is to make these kinds of things the things upon which we focus our attention on a moment-by-moment basis. We evaluate the thought material of our minds by the standards of the Word of God, particularly this passage from Philippians and others like it. But not only what we think, but a mind that loves God is concerned with