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| I DARE YOU TO THINK BIBLICALLY ABOUT... But not out of balance:
In his book, Your Mind Matters. John Stott writes, “Many have zeal without knowledge, enthusiasm without enlightenment. Now I thank God for zeal. Heaven forbid that knowledge without zeal should replace zeal without knowledge! God’s purpose is both zeal directed by knowledge, knowledge fired with zeal.” Taken from “Your Mind Matters” by John Stott. Copyright Cc) 1972 Inter-Varsity Press, Leicester, England, Cc) 2006 by Inter-Varsity Press, England. Used with permission of InterVarsity Press, P0 Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515. www.lvpress.com
Think of how commonly common expressions refer to mind and thinking:
What were you thinking? Are you out of your mind? Mind your own business! Stop and think for a moment! It never entered my mind.
How important is the mind?
1. How frequently is mind mentioned in the NIV?
156 times
2. What command does Jesus give about the mind?
Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30
God made us to think.
Analytically and poetically. See Genesis 2:20, 23
Christianity makes you think.
Matthew 17:24-25; 18:12; 21:28; 22:41-46 Jesus each time gets people to think.
God’s Word appeals to the sinful and wayward through the mind.
Isaiah 1:18
What kind of mind does Bible-shaped, Spirit-led prayerful thinking make?
“One of the highest noblest functions of man’s mind is to listen to God’s Word, and so to read his mind and think his thoughts after him both in nature and in Scripture.” John Stott pg. 31 Taken from “Your Mind Matters” by John Stott. Copyright Cc) 1972 Inter-Varsity Press, Leicester, England, Cc) 2006 by Inter-Varsity Press, England. Used with permission of InterVarsity Press, P0 Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515. www.lvpresss.comOn the other hand, a mind which ignores, misses and refuses God’s revelation has characteristics of its own. What mind is being cultivated at school, home, church, leisure, and work?
Ephesians 4:17-24
17 So I tell you this, and insist on it In the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. l8 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.
2OYou, however, did not come to know Christ that way. 2l SureIy you heard of him and were taught In him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which Is being corrupted by Its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God In true righteousness and holiness. (Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. NIV. COPYRIGHT 1973 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
“Has not God renewed our minds through Jesus Christ and shall we not think with It?” John Stott Taken from “Your Mind Matters” by John Stott. Copyright (c) 1972 Inter-Varsity Press, Lelcester, England, (C) 2006 by Inter-Varsity Press, England. Used with permission or InterVarsity Press, P0 Box 1400, D~ners Grove, IL 60515. wwwivpress.com
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