Jesus said in Mark
12:30: And
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.
So far we’ve been looking
at loving the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul. You may read it by clicking on the relevant
links.
The mind is actually part
of the soul, but because Jesus mentioned it separately in this passage, we’re
discussing it separately. Our mind is
the main thing that determines our actions. Everything we do begins with a thought and
thoughts have a number of sources.
1. Thoughts could originate
from us. We get an idea.
2. Thoughts come through
what we see and hear.
3. Thoughts could be an idea
another person shared with us and we then
think about it.
4. Thoughts could be
suggestions from Satan.
5. Thoughts could be a
prompting from the Holy Spirit.
What we do with our
thoughts is what determines our love for the Lord.
James 1:14-15 tells us
the following: Each
person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it
has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings
forth death. King David was a good example of the
consequences of such thoughts. He saw
Bathsheba bathing and instead of resisting the thought right from the start, he
cherished the thought until it gave birth to sin, the sin of committing
adultery with her and murdering her husband.
Where did this thought
come from? It came from what David saw,
but also from what Satan suggested to him. He was probably set up through a number of
suggestions to be in the right place at the right time for Satan to accomplish
his purpose.
What could Satan’s
purpose have been? The Lord sent Nathan
the prophet to David. You can read the
entire account in 2 Samuel 12:1-15, but Satan’s purpose became clear in verse fourteen. After Nathan has conveyed to David the Lord’s
punishment for what he had done, David immediately repented and then Nathan
declared God’s forgiveness and the withdrawal of some of the punishment, but what
Nathan said in verse fourteen was very profound, actually aimed at you and me
as well. He said: “However, because by doing this you have made the
enemies of the Lord show
utter contempt, the child who is born
to you shall surely die.” Another
translation uses the words “because by
this you have given the enemies of
the Lord great occasion to ridicule Him”.
Why are we tempted then? Is it really about us? In a way it is, yes, because sin does affect
our peace, joy, and fruitfulness. Satan
wants to kill, steal and destroy these things. But what Satan really aims for is having a go
at God. He seeks opportunities to
ridicule God and show contempt for Him. He
wants to be able to say: “Do you see what Henry has done. He claims to be a Christian and having
everything you promised, but look how he behaves. Is that what your children are like?”
When we cause that to
happen to God, as a result of what originates in our thoughts, do we love Him? Shouldn’t we sacrifice in our thought life and
the resulting actions to the honour and glory of the Lord? These could be sinful thoughts leading to sin,
but it could also be self-centred thoughts leading to self-centred behaviour, such
as own ambitions, too much attention to hobbies and sports, occupying the mind
with earthly and worldly interests instead of God-centred interests, etc. A good Biblical example here is the story of
Martha and Mary. You may read it in Luke 10:38-42. This world is not our home, and our life is
not our own. We are Kingdom citizens on
a pilgrimage to represent the Lord on earth.
His interests should actually take all our time and energy. Yes, we need to relax and a little
entertainment and sport activity are necessary, but we really do need to love
the Lord with ALL our (our entire) mind.
But how do we do that? Won’t we be too spiritual doing that? In whatever you do, consult the Lord and think
about how He would feel about what you’re about to do. If you love your wife, your children, your
parents, and your friends, you involve them in your life, don’t you? Similarly, if you love the Lord, involve him
in your thinking and your resulting actions. Ask Him what He thinks and wants, tell Him of
your joys and struggles, think about how He perceives things and the behaviours
of people (including yours), and avoid having Him ridiculed by His spiritual
and human enemies.
No comments:
Post a Comment