We use the word “love” very loosely. One moment we tell a family member we love them, and the next we talk about the dessert that we love. What we need today is to pause and examine who, or what, has our hearts. Over the last few weeks, we have been challenged that the most important thing we can do with our lives is to love God with everything in us: heart, soul, mind, and strength. This week, we are focusing on loving God with our minds. Loving God with our minds is a significant calling. After all, our minds will impact how we think, what we say, and what we do.
Proverbs 23 reminds us of the impact our minds have. In this passage of Scripture, the writer of this Proverb wrote, “As he thinks in his heart, so is he” (verse 7, NKJV). The writer of this Proverb reminds us here that our thoughts dictate the things we say and the things we do. You know this to be true in your own life. The things you focus on impact how you talk, and, ultimately, how you live. If we are focused on the things of this world, our actions and our words will reflect that. If we set our minds on God and His word, we will reflect Him in all we say and do. Our love and commitment to Him will spill out of us because we cannot contain it.
One of the chief character traits that we reflect when we set our minds on God and His kingdom is the peace of God. Isaiah 26:3 says, “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because He trusts in You.” When we focus on God and His kingdom, we exhibit “perfect peace.” This is the kind of peace rooted in trust in God. The person who loves God with his or her mind focuses daily on Him and His promises, trusting Him to care for and provide for them. As a result, they are filled with His peace. This peace stands in contrast to the chaos and worry that consume the minds and hearts of those who have not placed their faith in Christ.
Where is your mind focused today? Has focusing on the things of this world instead of God and His kingdom left you overwhelmed and anxious? Take a breath. Turn your mind and attention back to God, the One who controls everything. His peace is available to you today. Set your mind on Him, and He will give you His very peace.
Prayer Prompt: Use this prompt to guide you as you pray.
“God, You are the source of peace. I praise you for…”
Write down Proverbs 3:7 on a notecard and place it somewhere where you will see it often. Every time you read the verse, let it be a reminder to you to love God with your mind. Let it encourage you to focus your mind on the things of God and His kingdom over everything else.
1When you sit down to eat with a ruler,
Consider carefully what is before you;
2 And put a knife to your throat
If you are a man given to appetite.
3 Do not desire his delicacies,
For they are deceptive food.
4 Do not overwork to be rich;
Because of your own understanding, cease!
5 Will you set your eyes on that which is not?
For riches certainly make themselves wings;
They fly away like an eagle toward heaven.
6 Do not eat the bread of a miser,
Nor desire his delicacies;
7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.
“Eat and drink!” he says to you,
But his heart is not with you.
8 The morsel you have eaten, you will vomit up,
And waste your pleasant words.
9 Do not speak in the hearing of a fool,
For he will despise the wisdom of your words.
10 Do not remove the ancient landmark,
Nor enter the fields of the fatherless;
11 For their Redeemer is mighty;
He will plead their cause against you.
12 Apply your heart to instruction,
And your ears to words of knowledge.
13 Do not withhold correction from a child,
For if you beat him with a rod, he will not die.
14 You shall beat him with a rod,
And deliver his soul from hell.
15 My son, if your heart is wise,
My heart will rejoice—indeed, I myself;
16 Yes, my inmost being will rejoice
When your lips speak right things.
17 Do not let your heart envy sinners,
But be zealous for the fear of the Lord all the day;
18 For surely there is a hereafter,
And your hope will not be cut off.
19 Hear, my son, and be wise;
And guide your heart in the way.
20 Do not mix with winebibbers,
Or with gluttonous eaters of meat;
21 For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty,
And drowsiness will clothe a man with rags.
22 Listen to your father who begot you,
And do not despise your mother when she is old.
23 Buy the truth, and do not sell it,
Also wisdom and instruction and understanding.
24 The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice,
And he who begets a wise child will delight in him.
25 Let your father and your mother be glad,
And let her who bore you rejoice.
26 My son, give me your heart,
And let your eyes observe my ways.
27 For a harlot is a deep pit,
And a seductress is a narrow well.
28 She also lies in wait as for a victim,
And increases the unfaithful among men.
29 Who has woe?
Who has sorrow?
Who has contentions?
Who has complaints?
Who has wounds without cause?
Who has redness of eyes?
30 Those who linger long at the wine,
Those who go in search of mixed wine.
31 Do not look on the wine when it is red,
When it sparkles in the cup,
When it swirls around smoothly;
32 At the last it bites like a serpent,
And stings like a viper.
33 Your eyes will see strange things,
And your heart will utter perverse things.
34 Yes, you will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea,
Or like one who lies at the top of the mast, saying:
35 “They have struck me, but I was not hurt;
They have beaten me, but I did not feel it.
When shall I awake, that I may seek another drink?”
