Is this God’s equation for a beautiful mind?

God gave us a beautiful mind!

Think about it — God did not create us to be robots, quite the contrary! When He made us, He gave us a remarkable gift: a beautiful mind.

He made us thinking people!

And we ruined that with sin.

We corrupted that phenomenal gift of a brilliant mind.

But God WANTS to fix that for us!

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect,” Romans 12:2.

“Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes,” Ephesians 4:23.

God’s work of transforming our thinking is to free us from the corruption sin has caused and to give us the mind of Christ …

“You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had,” Philippians 2:5.

“For, ‘Who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him?’ But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ,” 1 Corinthians 2:16.

Again, transforming our thinking isn’t God making us into robots, He wants us to USE that beautiful mind He’s given us, but in a healthy, holy way. God wants us to use our mind to think rightly and righteously. To do that, there’s an equation we need to employ:

A biblical world view + critical thinking skills = Sound thinking (discernment).

God has given us the Bible to provide us with all the understanding we need. The Bible informs us about Who made us, our purpose for existing, and how to rightly live the lives God has given us. God reveals Himself to us through the Bible, and we can only understand ourselves from what the Bible teaches us. So it is vital that we have a well-developed biblical world view so we can understand the whole of life from the source of truth, which is God. That is why Jesus prayed, “Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth,” John 17:17.

We engage our minds with the Word of God by bringing to bear critical thinking skills. This helps us ask the questions that prompt us to apply God’s Word to our lives. For example, when we read that God has given us the ministry of reconciliation, the message of reconciliation, and has made us Christ’s ambassadors (2 Cor. 5:18-20) we can exercise critical thinking skills to ask, what does this mean for me? How can I fulfill this ministry of reconciliation? How can I be an ambassador for Christ in my sphere’s of influence? What examples does the Bible give me? How can I be equipped?

By allowing God to transform our thinking, and then using our minds to build a solid, biblical world view coupled with critical thinking skills, we can finally use those beautiful minds the way God intended! And to help make sure we’re able to do this right, we have the Holy Spirit living within us Who helps us understand scripture correctly …

“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future,” John 16:13.

What are you doing with the beautiful mind God has given you? Have you allowed God to transform your thinking? Are you a student of the Bible so you can build a reliable, biblical world view? Are you coupling to a biblical world view critical thinking skills so you can understand how to apply the Word of God to your life?

Scotty