Jesus told his disciples to \u201clove the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and\u00a0with all your mind\u201d (Matt. 22:37). We call this statement the first of two great commandments.\u00a0The second follows it, as Jesus says, \u201cYou shall love your neighbor as yourself\u201d (Matt. 22:39).<\/p>\n
In the first commandment, Jesus notes three sources of our love for him: our heart, soul, and\u00a0mind. In short, Christian affection for the Lord is to be truly triune, never compartmentalized.\u00a0However, we do well to consider each source individually that we might learn well how to love
\nour Lord.<\/p>\n
The Mind<\/strong> Reading to Learn<\/strong> Christians may say, \u201cI don\u2019t like to read.\u201d Understood. Few of us are naturally drawn to reading.\u00a0One must develop both the taste and skill to read and read well. However, it is still right to\u00a0always exhort one another to pick up the page\u2014for how does one expect to learn without And frankly, if I might insert a point of personal, pastoral anecdote \u2014 we all read, and we all like\u00a0to read, but what we are reading is whatever comes across our screens. I digress.<\/p>\n Learning to Read<\/strong> Supplement your Bible reading with a steady stream of healthy Christian literature. Keep\u00a0Christian classics close at hand. I typically read 5-10 pages each morning as a spiritual \u201cchoke\u201d\u00a0for my soul before beginning my Bible reading. We need these works. Keep in mind that we do Theology matters. Just read the news. Therefore, read strategically around topics that will\u00a0develop your theology and make application to life. Every Christian needs to be working through\u00a0at least one theological work a year. Something on the image of God, Christology, or the Last, sprinkle in works on subjects of your own interest. A healthy dose of secular reading\u00a0reminds us that we are human and live between two worlds. From biographies, to novels, to\u00a0contemporary works, each is helpful in their own right. I particularly like reading works from Civil Encouragement<\/strong> Sample book recommendations<\/u> One last book recommendation, one of my favorite books on my shelf and something that would\u00a0make a nice Christmas gift \u2014You Must Read<\/em> published by Banner of Truth. It\u2019s a compilation of\u00a0short summaries by contemporary authors on timeless Christian classics. It serves as a quick\u00a0reference guide, but also just the right amount of material to stir my soul in a short sitting. Buy,\u00a0read, and be blessed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jesus told his disciples to \u201clove the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and\u00a0with all your mind\u201d (Matt. 22:37). We call this statement the first of two great commandments.\u00a0The second follows it, as Jesus says, \u201cYou shall love your neighbor as yourself\u201d (Matt. 22:39). In the first commandment, Jesus […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatsbaptist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4891"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatsbaptist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatsbaptist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatsbaptist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatsbaptist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4891"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/coatsbaptist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4891\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4892,"href":"https:\/\/coatsbaptist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4891\/revisions\/4892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatsbaptist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatsbaptist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatsbaptist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nWhere, then, should one start? Perhaps it would be advantageous to start with the mind. Your\u00a0mind matters, and it matters to the Lord. Discipleship is surely volitional and emotional, but it is\u00a0first intellectual. Those who teach will tell you, in order to get to the heart and soul, you must first\u00a0go through the mind. Christians are to love the Lord with their minds. Scripture is replete with\u00a0instruction for our thought lives (Philippians 4:8, for example). Thus, Christians are called to think and think well.<\/p>\n
\nOne of the ways we love the Lord with our mind is that we commit to a lifetime of learning. And\u00a0in particular, we commit to a lifetime of reading. We could venture to say that Christian growth is\u00a0contingent upon our ability to learn and apply Christian truth. That is, reading is learning, and\u00a0learning is growing. Though Solomon gives us due warning against too many books on the\u00a0brain (Ecc. 12:12), Paul is quick to request his books and parchments from young Timothy (2\u00a0Tim. 4:13). That\u2019s one reason we give away books on Sunday night. A growing church is a\u00a0reading church.<\/p>\n
\nreading? We may not all read the same, in pace and practice, but learning assumes some level\u00a0of reading. In short, it\u2019s hard to understand how someone will grow in Christ without the\u00a0discipline of reading. Christian living without Christian reading is a hard sell.<\/p>\n
\nYou are what you read, which means you must read with purpose and intentionality. Start therefore by reading your Bible. A regular intake of Scripture must be a devotional rhythm of our\u00a0Christian lives.We are not simply reading our Bibles to feed our souls but also fuel to our minds
\n(cf., Romans 12:2).<\/p>\n
\ntheology in community, both in person and in print. We learn from people who have gone before\u00a0us and who walk beside us. Church history, we remember, affirms the power of print.<\/p>\n
\ndoctrine of Scripture, to name a few. We are all theologians. What kind and caliber theologian\u00a0you will be is largely determined by what you read. Do so with great care.<\/p>\n
\nWar history to the influence of media on our culture. To each his own.<\/p>\n
\nWherever you are in your journey with Christ, take baby steps toward a lifetime of learning. Start\u00a0small, both in content read and time spent. Set daily and weekly goals for yourself, instilling a\u00a0sense of Christian discipline. Learn, indeed, to live by grace as you pursue the God of grace\u00a0with all of your mind.\u00a0Keep thinking. Now let\u2019s get reading.<\/p>\n
\nTo the Golden Shore<\/em> by Courtney Anderson
\nThe Tech Wise Family<\/em> by Andy Crouch
\nBattle Hymns of the Republic<\/em> by S. C. Gwynn
\nThe Mortification of Sin<\/em> by John Owen
\nKnowing God<\/em> by J. I. Packer
\nAmusing Ourselves to Death<\/em> by Neil Postman
\nOn Reading Well<\/em> by Karen Swallow Prior
\nLit!: A Christian\u2019s Guide to Reading Books<\/em> by Tony Reinke
\nReclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age<\/em> by Sherry Turkle<\/p>\n