The Christian's Mind: Loving, Renewed

Jesus said we are to love our God with all our heart, soul, and mind. But what does that look like in the life of the follower of Christ in the 21st century?

Christian love is not blind. Christian love must be intelligent. Paul prayed this way in Philippians 1, didn't he? Philippians 1:9, beginning at verse nine: "And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all discernment." Did you get that? Christian love is not blind. "I pray that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment." It's unfortunate when people go to church, take off their hats and their brains, and park both their hats and their brains on the rack and go in and emotionally but unthinkingly go through a service. That's sad. Our Christian love ought to be intelligent, and our intelligence ought to be loving. We must love the Lord our God with all our mind.

Now, how do we do that? Let me suggest some ways. First of all, we love the Lord with our mind by cultivating His personal friendship. You see, when you know someone, you want to know that person better. When you love someone, you want to know that person better. I've seen many an engaged couple who sit down with the old scrapbooks and the old photo albums and they turn the pages, and here is this boy who's learning all about Aunt Sarah and Uncle Joe and looking at wedding pictures and looking at baby pictures. Why? Because he's fallen in love and he wants to get to know this girl better, and vice versa. When you love someone, you want to cultivate their personal friendship, and this is an intelligent thing to do.

By the way, that's where salvation begins—getting to know God. John 17:3, the Lord Jesus said, "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." What is eternal life? Knowing God. Not knowing about God, but knowing God. Now, salvation doesn't mean knowing about God and knowing about Jesus Christ; it means knowing them personally. Therefore, if I'm going to love God with all my mind, I have to know Him. Salvation is not just an emotional experience, certainly that's involved. It's not just an act of the will whereby in faith we invite Jesus into our lives; it's an intelligent thing. We know what we are doing. And so we love the Lord our God by cultivating His personal friendship, getting to know Him better.

Now, how do we do that? Let me give you a second suggestion. We love the Lord with all of our mind by meditating on His Word. Love communicates. When people love each other, they talk to each other. Now, they can even talk to each other in silences. There are silences to love. But love communicates. And because God is love, He communicates Himself to us through His Word. He has written a book. Now, when God gave us His Word, He gave us a love letter. The Word of God is the expression of the love of God. I read in Psalm 119:47 and Psalm 119:48 that when you love God's Word, you meditate on it. Psalm 119:47: "And I will delight myself in Your commandments, which I love. My hands also I will lift up to Your commandments, which I love; and I will meditate in Your statutes." Verse Psalm 119:97 of Psalm 119, you know this verse: "Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day."

Therefore, if I am going to love God with my mind, I am going to meditate on His Word. This is how I cultivate His friendship. It's interesting to go through Psalm 119 and see how much the psalmist really loved the Word of God. Psalm 119:14: "I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, as much as in all riches." He said, "I'd rather have the Word of God than have money." He repeats this in verse Psalm 119:127: "Therefore I love Your commandments more than gold, yes, more than fine gold!" And he repeats it again in verse Psalm 119:162: "I rejoice at Your word as one who finds great treasure, great spoil." Now, what's he saying? He loves the Word of God. And he proves his love for the Word of God by meditating on it.

Now, do you think Bible all day long? It's an amazing thing that when you get the Word of God in your heart and in your mind, you can be doing other things, but that Word is working. You're meditating on the Word of God. We are responding to God's voice. There's an interesting scene described in a book that we neglect, the Song of Solomon. Song of Solomon 5:2, now the bride is speaking and she says, "I sleep, but my heart is awake." Now, that sounds like a mother, doesn't it? A mother's fast asleep, but her heart is awake. And if that baby stirs a little bit, oh my, mother is right there. Love is this way. When, when you are asleep, your heart is still awake and God speaks to you.

Now, when God's voice speaks to you, stop and listen and fellowship with Him. This is how you love God with your mind. We love God with our mind by cultivating His personal friendship. We want to get to know Him better. By meditating on His Word. I can't understand how people can claim to love God and ignore His Word. What would you think of a husband and wife who didn't talk to each other, and yet they say, "Oh, we love each other very much." God talks to us, and we speak to Him. Through His Word, He talks to us, and through our praying, we speak to Him.

I notice that the psalmist was even willing to give up sleep that he might meditate on the Word of God. Verse Psalm 119:55 of Psalm 119: "I remember Your name in the night, O Lord, and I keep Your law." Verse Psalm 119:62: "At midnight I will rise to give thanks to You, because of Your righteous judgments." And then verses Psalm 119:147 and Psalm 119:148: "I rise before the dawning of the morning, and cry for help; I hope in Your word. My eyes are awake through the night watches, that I may meditate on Your word." Here is a man who, early in the morning, late at night, during the night, during the day, is meditating on the Word of God. Now, are you responding that way to God's voice? This is how we love Him with our mind.

There's a third suggestion I'll make. We love the Lord with our mind by cultivating His personal friendship and by meditating on His Word and by contemplating His works. There is a very important verse in Psalm 111 that ought to be handed to every college and university student. Psalm 111. The psalm begins: "Praise the Lord! I will praise the Lord with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright and in the congregation." Now, here's the verse, verse Psalm 111:2: "The works of the Lord are great, studied by all them who have pleasure in them." The works of the Lord are great, and those who have pleasure in His works study them. Now, this word "study" means to seek out, to investigate, to investigate with care. This verse is the basis for a good Christian education.

Why study science? Because of His works in nature. Why study history? Because of His works in providence. Why study the Bible? Because of His works in redemption. The works of the Lord are great, studied by all who have pleasure in them. By the way, this verse, Psalm 111:2, is engraved at the entrance of the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge University in England. And I can just see some atheistic university student going through that door, looking up and seeing, "The works of the Lord are great, studied by all who have pleasure in them," shaking his head and saying, "No, I'll stick with science." There would be no science if there were no God. Where did all of these principles come from? God built them into His universe. When we study science, we're thinking God's thoughts after Him. When we study history, we are following God's providences. History is His story. And when we contemplate the works of God in nature, contemplate the works of God in history, we are loving God with all of our mind.

Oh, that's so important. Some people will not read other books; they say, "The only book I'm going to read is the Bible." Well, if you feel constrained to read only one book, then let it be the Bible; that's the greatest, the best. I read many books. I usually keep a dozen or fifteen books going at one time. I read in many different areas. But whenever I read any subject, I look at it from God's point of view. That's loving God with my mind. When I'm reading about science, I see the hand of God, the mind of God, the wisdom of God. When I'm reading history or geography, when I'm reading theology, I see the heart and wisdom of God. This is what it means to love God with your mind. You don't get puffed up. What did Paul write? "Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up." 1 Corinthians 8:1. Knowledge puffs up. If you're studying some subject and getting proud over it, you're leaving God out; you're not loving God with your mind. This includes, by the way, studying the Bible. Some people study the Bible and get such a big head. And yet the purpose of Bible study is not a big head; it's a burning heart. A heart that loves God and a mind that loves God.

We love God with our mind by cultivating His personal friendship, getting to know Him better; by meditating on His Word; by contemplating His works; and by contemplating His character. Oh, the character of God is the highest subject anyone could study. Let's be intelligent Christians. Let's cultivate His personal friendship and get to know God better. Let's meditate on His Word. Let's contemplate His marvelous works. Let's contemplate His beautiful character.

2 Corinthians 4:16: "Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day." The outward man ruin, the inward man renewal. I want to talk about that renewal. How can that inner person be renewed? How can our lives be transformed? Well, the answer is given in Romans 12:1-2: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service," your rational worship. "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove"—and that means to prove by experience—"that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." The renewed mind. Paul is telling us here that if you want your life changed, start with your mind.

Let's look at these four words that we might better understand the miracle of a transformed life through a renewed mind. Word number one: conformation. "Do not be conformed to this world." Now, this word "conformed" means don't follow the fashions of the world. Don't outwardly imitate the world. The picture here, of course, reminds us of Daniel and his three friends in Daniel 1. They were taught all of the science and knowledge of the Babylonians, the Chaldeans, but it did not change them. They did not conform to the world around them. Conformation.

Now, this is where we started our lives, you'll recall. Ephesians 2: "You He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins"—now here's our unsaved condition—"in which you once walked according to the course of this world"—there's the world—"according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience"—there's the devil—"among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh"—there's the flesh—"fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as others." Sons of disobedience, children of wrath. We've got to be very careful not to let the world, the flesh, and the devil squeeze us and cause us to conform.

Now, how does this happen? Well, let's focus on the world. "Be not conformed to this world." You'll recall that the Apostle John in 1 John 2:16 tells us what is in the world: "For all that is in the world"—this means society without God—"the lust of the flesh"—that's pressure against my body—"the lust of the eyes"—that's pressure against my mind—"the pride of life"—that's pressure against my will—"is not of the Father but is of the world." Now, these pressures in the world try to make me conform. Don't let your body, your mind, and your will be pressured into worldly conformity. Conformation.

Now, the second word is presentation. "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service." He wants our bodies. There is a threefold presentation here. Romans 12:1, He wants my body. My body is God's temple. God has every right to it. My body is God's tool. Romans 6:16, He says now "yield the instruments of your body to be instruments of righteousness." Yield the members of your body to be God's tools to serve Him. Our body is God's treasury. 2 Corinthians 4:7: "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us." God wants my body. Now, when you give God your body, you've given Him everything. He wants my body. He wants my mind. He wants my will.

Let me become very practical at this point. If you're going to give God your body, then you aren't going to pamper your body. And when the alarm clock goes off in the morning, you're going to get up and say, "Lord, here's my body. I am at Your service. I am at Your disposal." You get up. Then you give God your mind. You reach for your Bible and let the Word of God transform your mind, renew your mind. And then you pray and give God your will. If you'll do this every day, you'll find a wonderful thing taking place.

This goes to our third word now: renovation. "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Present your body, mind, and will to God. That is presentation, not conformation. Then the result is a renewing, a renovation of the mind. A changed mind means a changed life. You change your mind and it changes your diet. You change your mind, it can change your job. It can change your friendship. In fact, conversion starts with a changed mind. Repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, this is described—this mental, intellectual renovation—is described in Colossians 3:9, beginning at verse nine: "Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him." It's a process of renewal. Now, you notice it's a constant process. You are being renewed. You never arrive till you get to glory. It's a passive thing. Notice, "he is renewed," not "he renews himself." Now, we are not passive; we are active. We read the Bible, we meditate, we pray. But the Spirit of God then takes the Word of God and renews our mind. He uses spiritual knowledge. And the result of this is we become like the Lord Jesus, according to the image of Him who created him.

Ephesians 4 gives a parallel admonition. Ephesians 4:20: "But you have not so learned Christ"—not learned about Christ; learned Christ, get to know Him—"if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind." In other words, the Holy Spirit of God renovates the mind, renews the mind. We think God's thoughts. We start thinking the way God thinks because we have thoughts that come from His Word.

Now, what's the result? Transformation. "Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Now, that word "transformed" is the word "transfigured." It's the same word that's used in Matthew 17:2 about the Lord Jesus: "He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light."

Now, how does transfiguration differ from conformation? Well, transfiguration is a change on the outside that comes from the inside. Now, when God saved us, He put His own life down inside of us. He made us after His image. We are made in the image of God. But this image is not going to come out simply because we are good people or we are trying to work hard or we are religious. No, no. This is going to come out when we allow God to bring about a spiritual metamorphosis. What God has put into us comes out. When you have that renewed mind, the mind that is given to Jesus Christ, the mind that's in the process of learning Christ, when that mind is renewed, the life is transformed, and the glory that is on the inside comes out.

Now, this is described in 2 Corinthians 3:18: "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror"—that's the Word of God—"the glory of the Lord, are being transformed"—transfigured, same word—"into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord." When the child of God looks into the Word of God and sees the Son of God, he is transformed by the Spirit of God into the image of God to the glory of God. That's what he's talking about. And this is a day-by-day process as you and I present our body and mind and will to the Lord. And we pray, and we meditate, and we worship, and we allow the Spirit of God to take the Word of God, transform our minds, and then transform our lives.