“For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, and from his mouth men should seek instruction.”
Malachi 2:7
I believe the mind is the one area of your life that directly affects your ministry the most. If you choose to be content with the learning you have already received from college or seminary, your ministry will stall. If you continue to learn and improve your thinking, your job will get more exciting and the people in your congregation will love you for it (Even though they will never realize it).
Enjoy your mind! Feed it and have fun in it. It is the greatest computer on the face of the earth, it is the one instrument that most resembles our maker, it is a gift that no price-tag can be put on.
Why is this focus on developing the mind so important?
1. Week after week of teaching, preaching, leading small groups, visiting schools, counseling and even working with your kids all depend upon what is stored up in your gray matter. Read the following verses just to see how important thinking is…
* Luke 6:45
* Matthew 13:52
2. Thinking is your primary job and instructing is your primary role. I take Malachi 2:7-9 very seriously. What are three principles you can take from these verses?
(1) ___________________________
(2) ___________________________
(3) ___________________________
How does 2 Peter 3:16 resemble the Malachi passage?
3. As a “protector of the sheep” you must be prepared to be ready to fight the issues of the mind as dark days approach. Look at these verses:
* 1 Timothy 4:1-2 –
* 2 Timothy 2:25-26 –
* Acts 18:24-28 –
On this issue of protecting, listen to this great quote by John Stott:
“Some will say the submission of our minds to the mind of Christ is an intellectual imprisonment. But no more so than the submission of our wills to the will of Christ is moral bondage. Certainly it (“taking every thought captive” – 2 Corinthians 10:5) is a surrender of liberty (ie. Intellectual Freedom), for no Christian can be a “free thinker”. Yet it is that kind of surrender which is TRUE FREEDOM – freedom from our own miserable subjectivity, and freedom from bondage to the current whims and fancies of the world. Is it stunting to spiritual growth? No, it is ESSENTIAL to it, for Christian growth is nothing if it is not growth into Christ as Lord and head.” (In other words, just as a true Christian is to guard their actions from ungodly behavior, so too must we guard our mind from ungodly philosophies).”
Look at how these verses back him up:
· Colossians 2:8
· Romans 1:18-19, 21 –
· 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 –
I believe one of the biggest battles you are going to have in the realm of the mind is the “battle for the brilliant” – – Intellectual Arrogance! Here is a quote about modern-day intellectual arrogance by a man I highly respect. . .
“Many Christian college students have allowed progressive understanding and critical study of art, music, philosophy and other areas of higher learning to cause arrogance and sophistication to plant a bitter root of doubt and disdain for their early Christian learning in their heart. Arrogance says that the rest of the world is clueless and ignorant. Arrogance believes that no one I know understands quite like me and the influential new teachers and friends that I now have here at college. This is simply not true, and in fact arrogance is one of Satan’s most deadly tools to throw impressionable Christians into vast mazes of confusion and destruction for many years of their young adult lives .” Please think hard on that.
If you are even reading this blog I know you understand the importance of the mind – and I think you have the drive to improve and prepare yours for action. So I have a few suggestions on how to improve your thinking skills. . .
A THINKING PLAN
1. READ, READ, READ & READ AGAIN!
I have set up a reading schedule that I am always
following. Not religiously, but it is my continual
guideline:
a. Classics – – Fiction and Non-fiction: this looks at
the great writers. These open your mind to
the art of communication. (Suggested reads: Lord of the Rings Trilogy, “1984” G. Orwell)
b. Current Theology and Christian Issues: these
keep you aware of the trends and the blowing
of the Christian breeze. (Suggested reads: Fools Talk” by O. Guinness, “Bad Religion” R.
Douthat)
c. Classic Theology & Biography: this allows the
men of the past to speak and usually they are
smarter (they had time to think). (Suggested reads: “On Being a Theologian of the Cross”
Gerard Forde, “Prayer” O. Halleseby, “Bonhoeffer” Eric Metaxas)
2. UNDERSTAND THE ANTAGONISTS AND THINKING OF THE ENEMIES OF CHRIST
a. Read Christian haters, it makes you think.
b. Learn the popular arguments of the day, and
be ready for how the enemy thinks.
c. (Suggested reads: “Rage Against God” Peter Hitchens, “The God Delusion” Richard Dawkins)
3. STUDY THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY AND LOGIC.
Read Francis Schaeffer for philosophic overviews
and then pick your interest (Kierkegaard, Luther, Edwards)
4. WRITE A BLOG, WORK ON A BOOK
This will help you test out your ideas, see if anyone is
interested or stirred, and it will force you to write
knowing you will be read!
5.CHOSE A MENTOR
This is probably the most important! What writer
speaks to your heart, and read all you can. Make
him your guide (Piper, Edwards, Luther, Schaeffer)
As one famous writer once said, “Let my people THINK!” The world is desperate to hear real answers from some mature minds.
