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Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Matthew 22:37-39 (NIV)
How do we love God with our mind? This isn’t about intellectual assent to beliefs about God but rather using our mind to love God. Maybe that seems odd. We often say we love with our heart and think with our mind. Yet our minds encounter and process both thoughts and feelings. Our minds give shape to what we say and how we act.
We know how to put our minds to use in service of school or work. May we discover anew how to engage our minds in service of loving God.
Listen
Therefore, if you were raised with Christ, look for the things that are above where Christ is sitting at God’s right side. Think about the things above and not things on earth.
Colossians 3:1-2
Think
There is a member of the church I serve who often prays, “Thank you, God, for all the bad things that didn’t happen today.” I used to think this was a funny prayer until she talked about why she prayed it. She is neither wealthy nor a person of power. But she knows that her frustrations and hardships are often small compared to the blessings she experiences. In large part it is a matter of her mindset and values.
Thinking about “the things above and not things on earth” is not a call to ignore what’s going on around you and only think about life after we die. It’s a call to place our minds on the values of the kingdom of God. The values “on earth” tell us there is not enough to go around and that some people must lose in order for others to win. In the realm of God there is enough for everyone, and everyone is a beloved child of God.
Ann Deibert
Pray
Thank you, God, for the greatness of your love. Especially today I give thanks for people in whose lives I experience your love. Fix my mind on this amazing love. Amen.
Go
God loves your mind. God loves you.
Invite God to renew and transform your mind to love God and your neighbor.
Then go in peace and share that great love.
