A Christian Mind

Jesus commands us to love the triune God with all our faculties: heart, soul, and mind (Matt. 22:37). Paul said to Timothy, “Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything” (2 Tim. 2:7). On the one hand, the Lord illuminates us to understand the truth. On the other hand, we must labor to know the truth. Christian mind is required for all disciples. In The Passionate Intellect: Christian Faith and the Discipleship of the Mind (Downers Grove: IVP Books, 2010), Alister McGrath notes:

We cannot love God without wanting to understand more about him. We are called upon to love God with our minds, as well as our hearts and souls (Matthew 22:37). We cannot allow Christ to reign in our hearts if he does not also guide our thinking. The discipleship of the mind is just as important as any other part of the process by which we grow in our faith and commitment. (p. 21)

We think about what we believe. We pursue it. We seek it until we are sought by God (See Gal. 4:9). Augustine encouraged us to think over what we believe and believe in thinking:

No one believes anything unless one first thought it believable…Everything that is believed is believed after being preceded by thought…Not everyone who thinks believes, since many think in order not to believe; but everyone who believes thinks, thinks in believing and believes in thinking. [Quoted by Robert Louis Wilken, The Spirit of Early Christian Thought: Seeking the Face of God (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003), p. 164.]