The greatest man who ever lived gave us the greatest command ever given that we might experience the greatest life ever offered. Jesus was once asked the hardest question anyone could be asked.
Then one of the scribes came…and asked Him, “Which is the first commandment of all?”
Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. (Mark 12:28-30)
This is the most stirring challenge Jesus ever gave us! To experience this love is true revival. Revival is when we start contending for the 1st commandment. It’s in waging war to love God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength that we overcome lust, anger, and fear. Here lies our place of true freedom. So far I’ve looked at loving God with all of our heart and soul. This week we look at our mind.
Mind. Romans 12:1-2 exhorts us to present our whole bodies to God—body, soul and spirit—by renewing our mind. Our minds control our emotions, our bodies, our souls. Transformation is only possible through the renewing of our thinking—this is quite frankly why loving God with our souls is mentioned. Our mind must decide to deal with our shame and our hiddenness (last week’s blog).
There must be a battle plan for our love. We renew our mind with what God says about us. Many of us today don’t feel God’s love, we’ve never truly heard God say, “Susan, I love you, you are my child.” No other place can we hear those words but from God’s Word.
John, who is known as the beloved disciple, wrote, abide in My Word…abide in My love. God’s Word, the Bible, defines the character of God. Without the scriptures we can’t experience God’s love. God’s love, forgiveness, and power are discovered as we spend time renewing our minds with His Word. The Bible says that God’s Word is higher than His name. What a statement! How is that true? Because the Word defines the name.
The most profound way we love God with our mind is through our eyes—meditating, studying, and learning about the Jesus of the Bible through reading His Word. When you fall in love with the Word, you fall in love with Jesus.
It’s in meditating in God’s Word, interacting with the God of the Bible, that we learn to contend for our faith, contend for our heart, contend for our true identity. We renew our identity, defeat shame in our life, through God’s Word. We love God with all of our mind by opening the most powerful and challenging book ever written.
On the Road,
Steve
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