Love the Lord Your God with All Your Mind

-
English: augustine at the school of tagasteImage via WikipediaSaint Augustine of Hippo, a seminal thinker on...Image via Wikipedia
Ever thought of the noetic effects of sin, that is, how the fall affects our thinking? For sinners to love God with their minds they must first be regenerated. 

The faculty by which we reason has been seriously disturbed by sin and the fall
The fall has seriously damaged our ability to think and reason, however, our ability to think has not been totally annihilated. It is true that pagan thinkers can add 2 + 2. You don't have to be regenerate to get a PhD in mathematics. Yet, when it comes to the knowledge of God, men and women suppress this truth, denying what is plainly seen in Creation.
The Christian faith is reasonable
Augustine implied that a faith without reason, is not faith, but credulity. God never calls us to make a leap of faith into the darkness. Instead, the Scriptures call us to take a leapout of the darkness, into the light. Our faith is reasonable, but it is not deemed as reasonable by the unconverted.

Regeneration is the necessary condition for loving God with your mind
The moment you are regenerate is the first time you are disposed to the things of God instead of being opposed to them. However, you still carry the baggage of your unconverted way of thinking with you. We therefore need to continually grow in loving God with our minds.

If you despise doctrine and knowledge, it is possible that this indicates you're still in your fallen condition. The unconverted don't want God in their thinking. Whereas the Christian wants God to dominate their thinking.

Related articles

Enhanced by Zemanta

Popular posts from this blog

Speaking in tongues for today - Charles Stanley

-
Image
There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. … But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all. … And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. … Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way - 1 Corinthians 12:4, 7, 28, 30—31 The Lord Jesus Christ had come and gone. The church—newly birthed—was in a transition time. The new covenant was seen as a threat to the Jewish leaders; therefore, there was persecution for those who had chosen to follow Christ. The new religion, in its infant stages, had no Bible, few leaders, and absolutely no support from the government. Astounding that it survived, isn’t it?  How in the world did it survive with so little going for it? Power. Not just a force, but mighty, visible power. Th...
Read more

What is the glory (kabod) of God?

-
Image
2 CORINTHIANS 4:17 "This light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison." Scripture places a high value on God 's glory, and it is not hard to figure out why. Since the inherent glory of the Lord is something that He will not share with others (Isa. 42:8), we know that His glory is something that He prizes highly; indeed, He prizes it more highly than anything else. We should, therefore, set the glory of God as the goal and overarching emphasis of our lives. Whatever we lose for the sake of making the Lord's glory known will be worth it when we see the dazzling light and beauty of; the divine glory (28:5; Rev. 21:23). Glory has to do with light and beauty, but those aspects do not sum up what the Bible means when it speaks of the glory of God. Interestingly, the Hebrew word kabod , which is translated into English as "glory," has the root meaning of "weight" or "heaviness....
Read more

The Holy Spirit causes us to cry out: Abba, Father

-
Image
Pentecostés. Óleo sobre lienzo, 275 × 127 cm. Madrid, Museo del Prado. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) To bring out the same truth in another way, Paul says God sent Jesus (as a Man) to live under the Law in order “to redeem those under law, that we [Jews and Gentiles ] might receive the full rights [adoption] of sons” ( Galatians 4:5).  By “full rights” or “adoption” he means entering into the privileges and responsibilities of sonship. He uses it also of the sonship of Israel (Romans 9:4). Galatians 4:1, 2 indicate that the son and heir of a wealthy family in Paul’s day would be treated as a slave until he became of age.  Then he would receive the adoption, that is, all the rights, privileges, and responsibilities that belonged to an adult member of that family. Adoption was also used in the modern sense, so that Gentiles who were not sons of Abraham became true heirs, true sons of God , by faith.  Jesus died, not just to save us from the fires of hell, bu...
Read more