I wanted to share some of the insights I’m gaining from delving into the Biblical principal of Mark 12:30. “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 heart.”

So the question is: How do I do that? Humans are not naturally God-lovers. We are disgustingly in love with ourselves. Just think of how often your speech or others includes the words I, me, mine…

Elizabeth George, in her book LOVING GOD WITH ALL YOUR MIND, points readers to Philippians 4:8 as the starting point: “Whatever is true , whatever is honorable, what ever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.“

The word “dwell“ is translated “think“ in the KJV. The literal translation is “ponder on these things.“ Ponder means to consider, think about, wonder about, brood over, contemplate. It gives the idea of spending time in thought…but thoughts of what? The first thing Philippians 4:8 tells us to think about is “whatever is true.” We find absolute truth only in God’s word. It is His love letter to us. Now what can I do to dwell on God’s truth? Elizabeth George states, “one key to loving God with all our mind is not dwelling on the past or on unpleasant memories.” She gives three specific practices to cultivate that will help us dwell on truth:

1. Memorize Scripture-tape Bible verses to your fridge, above your sink, on your mirror.
2. Meditate on Scripture-turn the verses over in your mind, this is deliberate concentration.
3. Master Obedience-as we are committing the verses to our mind, it is of utmost importance that we do what these verses tell us. The ultimate evidence of love is obedience. We should not just know what God’s word says, we should do what it says.

We should never allow our thoughts or feelings to override the truths of Scripture.

” Disciplining our thought life by focusing on God’s true and reliable Word is a giant step toward truly experiencing the love of God so that we can love Him with all our mind.“

Next time, “taking every thought captive“, 2 Corinthians 10:5. Meanwhile, how about using Philippians 4:8 as your memory verse goal?

First printed July 2005 in The Freedom Reader, a publication of Spring Valley Freedom Baptist Church, Huntington, WV.

For 40 years the people of Israel wandered the wilderness waiting for the last of the unbelieving, faithless generation to die before they could enter the land promised to Abraham. Finally the glorious day came and they approached the wild and raging Jordan River where God told the people to cross. The priests carrying the ark of the Lord stepped into the flood-swollen waters – in faith they plunged in and got their feet wet… The waters on the upriver side rose up and stood in one heap a great distance away. Then the priests crossed to the middle and stood on dry ground while all Israel crossed on dry land.

After they all had crossed and while the priests still stood in the middle, God directed Joshua to send 12 men – one from each tribe – to go back and pick up a big stone from the middle of the river. They stacked them up as God told them to. He told them this was to be a memorial so that when their children saw them and asked about them, they could tell the children of how God stopped the flow of the Jordan River so the people could cross on dry, solid ground. (Full story – Joshua 3-4.)

Just one generation later – the children of the generation that received that grand entry into the Promised Land – we are told in Judges 2:10 “All that generation also were gathered to their fathers and there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord, nor yet the work He had done for Israel.”

Why didn’t they know??? How could their parents, and grandparents (and adult church leaders) have forgotten to include God’s wonderful works for them in telling the old family stories?

But wait……… When you start a story that begins with “Back when I was younger…” do you include what God has done for you? Do you just tell the “I walked three miles to school in the snow” stories?

Or do you tell about the times you walked in the “wilderness” lonely and fearful, and God parted a “river” so you could safely cross on dry ground, protected by His own hand? Do you tell them how you met Jesus and how much you love Him?

Is your life story a memorial to the God of wonders or a history lesson on plain life “back in the day?”

There is great danger in the plain old stories without including God in them… Look what happened to Israel’s children – Judges 2:11 says “Then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals (false gods).”

Testimony or History? What story are you telling?

I want to thank Russ Chambers for his message on the evening of March 25, 2007 at 20th Street Baptist Kenova that inspired this article.