“The current tendency to minimize Bible study and sound theology in the interests of focusing on the heart is badly misguided. We need to be cultivating our minds in order to cultivate our hearts. We must set our minds on things above and love God with our hearts and minds, never …supposing we can do one without the other. ‘Be transformed by the renewing of your mind’ (Romans 12:2).”
~Randy Alcorn via Jason’s Facebook
My goal for this year has been to exercise my mind towards the things of God. I wanted my mind to come alive with God’s attributes, with His character, with His praises.
I’ve been reading, discussing, writing. I’ve been thirsty for knowledge of God.
And I’ve heard the warnings: “Beware of dead doctrine,” they say. “I’ve heard sermons from those thinking churches. They’re all knowledge and no heart.” “Don’t think too deeply,” they tell me. “That only leads to division.”
I disagree.
Yes, it is possible to have knowledge without faith. It is possible to have a form of godliness but to deny its power.
But this is no excuse to remove our minds from our worship.
The fact is, my heart is fickle. It is inclined to despair.
This year has been a tough one. Many times I have felt desperately hopeless and fearfully alone. Many times my heart has told me that God is not sovereign, that God is not good. It has told me that life is not worth it, that the pain is too great, that I should just give up.
My heart has told me lies.
But in God’s grace, He has moved me this year to exercise my mind towards Him. My exercised mind now teaches my heart. It teaches my heart of the sovereignty of God when things seem out of control. It teaches my heart of the goodness of God when all I can see is bad. It teaches my heart to hope in the Lord, when my heart would otherwise despair. It teaches my heart to find joy in the Lord even when it’s bleeding.
Far from finding that focusing on doctrine has caused my heart to atrophy, I find instead that doctrine has become the firm rock to which my fickle heart can cling.
I still feel.
Boy, do I feel. But now I feel more than simply the storms of circumstances that buffet. Now I feel the rock that is stable through the storms of life. My heart feels truth now, instead of just circumstance.
“We’re either building our lives on the reality of what God is truly like and what He’s about, or we’re basing our lives on our own imagination and misconceptions.
We’re all theologians. The question is whether what we know about God is true.”
~Joshua Harris, Dug Down Deep
“Theology matters, because if we get it wrong, then our whole life will be wrong.”
~Joshua Harris, Dug Down Deep
Collect more quotes from throughout the week with Barbara H’s meme “The Week in Words”.
I like these and I agree about doctrine.
“My exercised mind now teaches my heart.”
“I still feel. Boy, do I feel.”
So true, Bekah! The more we know about God and His Word, the more our feelings will be guided in true ways, not disappear. I’ve found that true in my own life. The more I’ve learned about God, the more deeply I feel about Him. My church is definitely a “thinking” church – which is good – but often to the detriment of “feeling.”
It shouldn’t be one or the other, but BOTH – they each lead to the other!
Your post whets my appetite even more for John Piper’s new book, “Think.” I’ve been listening to the podcasts of the Desiring God conference this past weekend on this very topic that you’re discussing here. I love when God bombards me from several places with the same idea. Thanks for sharing these thoughts.
I so agree — This reminds me a little of ‘The Knowledge of the Holy,’ where Tozer stresses a right view of God — right thinking about God.
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength…”