Romans 12:1-2 – I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

THEME OF THE DAY: THE THINKING CHRISTIAN. The mind plays an important part in our walk with the Lord. When we became Christians, it involved our mind. We responded to facts. The Gospel is a message of factual objective truth. Yes, it involves our heart and affections too, but we first are drawn and moved by objective truth. Even the definition of repentance shows us the necessity of the mind in becoming a Christian. Repentance in its simplest definition is “a changing of the mind.” And this process of thinking continues in the growth of a Christian.

In the New Testament alone, the word “mind” appears eighty-three times in seventy-five verses. Our mind and thus thinking is so important. King Solomon wrote “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7). As we think, so we believe. As we believe, so we live. Yet, when it comes to Biblical thinking, we face tremendous challenges. We live in a fast-paced world full of technological advances, gadgets, and a wealth of distractions pulling us away from using our mind. The consequences of not engaging and exercising our minds are severe. The English author, Harry Blamires, wrote a book titled “The Christian Mind: How Should a Christian Think?”. He identified one of the consequences of being a non-thinking Christian. Here are his words . . .

“There is no longer a Christian mind. There is still, of course, a Christian ethic, a Christian practice, and a Christian spirituality. As a moral being, the modern Christian subscribes to a code other than that of the non-Christian. As a member of the church, he undertakes obligations and observations ignored by the non-Christian. As a spiritual being, in prayer and meditation, he strives to cultivate a dimension of life unexplored by the non-Christian. But as a thinking being, the modern Christian has succumbed to secularization. He accepts religion – its morality, its worship, its spiritual culture; but he rejects the religious view of life, the view which sets all earthly issues within the context of the eternal, the view which relates all human problems – social, political, cultural – to the doctrinal foundations of the Christian faith, the view which sees all things here below in terms of God’s supremacy and earth’s transitoriness, in terms of heaven and hell.”

Do we live life, all of life, in the context of the eternal? Or do we have moral, church, and spiritual aspects of our lives that seem disconnected from our “real” life of daily responsibilities and tasks? His words are worthy of self-examination. Blamires is saying, “We may go through life morally right, attend church, have some spirituality, but not be a thinking Christian; a Christian whose mind has been transformed to live daily in the eternal realm, not this temporal realm.”

There is another consequence of not being a thinking Christian. We develop short attention spans. Here are a few examples. It is easy to sit through a two-hour movie without any problem; spend a couple of hours on Facebook and browsing the internet with no trouble; or be engaged at a multiple hour concert. Why? None require much thought. But be challenged to listen through an hour long expository sermon on Sunday and we struggle to stay engaged. And it is not uncommon to see churches accommodate our lack of attention by offering shorter sermons of thirty minutes or less. Now, please, don’t misunderstand me, but is it possible to equip the Lord’s sheep with the theology, doctrine and Biblical truth necessary to live Christ-centered in an increasingly godless society with thirty minutes or less of preaching a week? Church history would tell us “no” as great churches and revivals were characterized by the supremacy of preaching, mind-engaging preaching, and yes, even lengthy mind-engaging preaching.

It is a challenge to be a thinking Christian but it is a challenge we must accept and develop. Without being thinking Christians, we cannot be growing Christians.

PRAYER: “Father, protect me from the world which seeks to drive me from Your Word.”

QUOTE: “Either the Word will conform us or the world. And which one is a daily choice we make.”