With all your mind

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

A teacher of the law once asked Jesus, "of all the commandments, which is the most important?" (Mark 12:28) Jesus' reply, seen above in Mark 12:30, made it clear that the most important thing for us to do is to love God with everything we've got. But it was interesting that he broke it down into four categories. Three of those four were repeated from the command given to Moses in Deauteronomy 6:5, which said, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength."

Jesus, however, added a fourth category: "Love the Lord your God...with all your mind." I believe this was a very important distinction as Jesus was in effect, saying that contrary to popular opinion, right religion is not just about heart, feelings, or emotions, but it also involves the intellect.

Here are some practical ways this should play out in our lives as Christians:

• We should study the Scriptures as 2 Timothy 2:15 commands: "Present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth."

• We should study biblical theology in order to understand better the nature of God and embrace him for who he truly is.

• We should learn and apply sound logic to spiritual questions, knowing that logic flows from the very nature of God and that it helps us to understand and interpret his revelation, the Bible.

• We should scrutinize truth claims to see if they square with God's previously revealed truth (Acts 17:11; Galatians 1:8-9).

• We should actively apply all we've learned to train other believers concerning who God is and what he desires in our lives (2 Timothy 2:2).

• We should prepare ourselves to "give an answer" to everyone who asks about our faith and why it makes sense (1 Peter 3:15).

• We should worship God in ways that involve clear thinking about who he is and what he has revealed. As Jesus said, we should worship him "in the Spirit and in truth" (John 4:24)

Have a great night everyone!