With all your mind.

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). 

As we continue a series on the Shema (Sh’ma) found in Deuteronomy 6, let’s take a moment to consider what “loving God with all your mind” means.

Our minds are complex. They are capable so many good things - wisdom, understanding, learning, and creating. Our brains are also capable of incredibly unhelpful things, some with are hurtful, destructive, and untrue. The strengths of our mind, my be our best and worst qualities.

Recently I discovered that some people think constantly, others think often, and many have quiet within their own mind regularly. I am the former. My brain is on overdrive most of the time I’m awake. While scientists aren’t sure why people’s brains are different in quantity of processing, this has little to do with IQ or success. This is not something that makes me better or worse than others, but because my mind is so busy, I have found it to be a place that I struggle with most.

Because some I am consistently processing, landing on what is true is often difficult for my brain. When I am discussing any given topic with people, I will often ask questions that disagree, challenge, or prove points in an effort to see all sides of every issue. At times, this process of learning can distort what’s true or be uncomfortable for others. The questions my mind has will stay unless I come to grips with feeling I have a full or good sense of understanding something.

Within my mind’s process of determining what is real and true, I find that I often to fail to trust what God says is true. God doesn’t want me to lean on my own understanding, but to trust that there are pieces of understanding that I am unable to comprehend. However, God offers us wisdom when we ask and the Holy Spirit to encourage us to learn and remember what is true.

When we do not lean on Him, ask for wisdom, or spend time discovering His perspective through reading the Bible, our minds decide to fill in the story and look to other humans, who have limited knowledge, to patch up our gaps in getting the full picture. In no way does God want us to avoid discovering or learning about the world, history, or science, but God does want us to be careful because when we rely our our limited understanding, we may get things wrong.

For example, consider a child who was not listening and was disrespectful at school for weeks at a time. When they get home from school each day and the reports from school are revealed to their parents, the parents display frustration. From the child’s perspective, school behavior is a huge problem in their life at home. One day, the child comes home from school, is sat down by their parents and told they are getting a divorce. Even though the child thinks they understand that their parents’ frustration and anger seems to be about their behavior, that is not why the parents are getting a divorce. Perhaps an extramarital relationship has led to a divorce, but the child is not aware of these issues. Because the child decides they are the reason their parents got a divorce doesn’t make that true. The child’s logic makes sense, but the school issues are unrelated to the marrital struggle. In the same way, we may not know crucial information about what God is doing, but it is not okay for us to fill in the gaps of our understanding.

When Ben and I were first married, he felt like he was more sinful than I was. He had more anger and tangible areas of his life where his failures were seen. We could visually see where his life didn’t reflect God’s intentions or best. Over the last twenty years together, Ben slowly was able to see more of my brokenness and failures as he spent more time talking to me. My sins have always been less visible than his, but that doesn’t make them any less real.

The failures I have are mostly internal. Frequently, my pride overrides God’s understanding. I think I know better (than God) what I and what other people need. This sin of thinking I know better, is not God’s best. He wants me to submit my thoughts and desires to Him, not think around Him. His command to love Him with my whole mind may be the hardest thing for me to do as a result. It feels like my mind has a mind of it’s own.

Another way this struggle to love God with my mind shows itself is my default judgments. Most days I can find myself finding ways to judge people’s intentions and actions. By believing I know how other people feel or think is saying I am all knowing; that I am God in a sense. Obviously, trying to be God in any situation implies that I don’t need Him. They way I assume I understand what is going on with people hurts them and my trust in God. At times, the Holy Spirit does speak to me about how to love others, but there are days when I am absolutely trumping God’s wisdom and the Holy Spirit’s prompting in my own head. Even though I have been aware of my judgmental thoughts for years, they still invade my life on the regular. Sometimes I combat these issues and other times I lean in. This war within me is real; it is currently an area God is leaning into.

To allow God to transform my mind is the hardest of these three commands: to love God with my heart and soul seem manageable. The command to love God with my mind requires me to open up my thoughts and understanding to God’s intervention. To love God with my mind is harder than the rest.

Photo by Jean-Daniel Francoeur

The battle to claim truth, but know where to give credit for what we know an understand is not a new concept. Look at Paul’s thoughts on wisdom:

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:

‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
    the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.’

Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: ‘Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.’ " 1 Corinthians 1:18-31

This is me. I am not wise by my own understanding. If I am aware of how to love or live, it is not a result of how much I know about God. The only way I can offer anything valuable to anyone is because God is at work within me. Yes, even within my mind.

While my mind offers me so many lies and fills in gaps of understanding of what I feel compelled to claim, God still uses my mind and words to bring healing and restoration. Because I am aware of my mind’s sinful tendencies, I am quick to be sure others are aware of my imperfections and remind them to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to clarify my thoughts and ideas. This is because my humanness is still a very obvious part of me.

When I rely on God’s thoughts and mindset, I get to see others, my circumstances, and often myself, through His eyes. I have more grace for mistakes, more compassion for emotion, and more frequently turn to God instead of my own thoughts. The way God has used my desire to understand the world, from being able to know to being able to offer His healing shifts my mind’s purpose and desires.

If I want to be seen, heard, or understood to be seen as wise, that is when I am least helpful. The times I ask God to lead me and intervene is when He uses me in deep, meaningful ways. When He does use me, I am shocked and filled with gratitude every. single. time. It is an incredible privilege to be a part of what He is doing.

The temptation to allow other people to determine if I am holy and worthy of listening to can be dangerous. Instead, like Paul mentioned, when I focus on what God says, I am filled with wisdom. All wisdom from God can be confirmed and supported with truth from scripture.

Like Paul, I am a very normal person. I need to accept God’s love for me as much as anyone else; I am aware of my need for Him. My need for God does not end at transforming my behavior or choices. He is also needed in transforming my daily thoughts, compassion, and empathy. While I love to learn and teach, I am also constantly hungry to learn more and am constantly challenging my own ideas as a result of His transformation. My hunger for truth is what brings me back to Him. He is the only source of truth that fulfills what I need to know.

God didn’t choose me to share these truths with you because I am worthy or significantly intelligent, but because He can use anyone. Using me proves His power and strength. Knowing I need Him to offer wisdom changes the reason I write and speak. Being able to share God’s heart is an honor, something I feel so grateful to be able to share. I boast in Him. He is worthy of all the glory, and any truth I share. Anything good and valuable words I offer are because I learned them from Him.

May you see, by God using me, that you, too, can speak truth and share the truth of the gospel with others. Even though we are people who miss God’s best for us as we seek to be praised, validated by others, and known for what we can accomplish, we can offer these sins to God. He can adjust our minds to reflect what is true. As Paul said, may we love God with our minds by boasting in Him. “It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.” (1 Cor 1:30)

Love Him with your mind.