| Good Morning Everyone, Our theme for this month: “Think for yourself” Our Bible verse for today: “If you call out to insight and lift your voice to understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it like hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God.” Proverbs 2:3-5 (CSB) Our thought for today: “Don’t settle for superficial and shallow” In the introduction to his great little book “Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God” Pastor John Piper urges us to train ourselves to be deep thinkers as a means of learning to truly love God. He maintains that deep thinking is required if we are to come to really know God. “The main reason God has given us minds is that we might seek out and find all the reasons that exist for treasuring him in all things and above all things. He created the world so that through it and above it we might treasure him. The more we see of his surpassing greatness and knowledge and wisdom and power and justice and wrath and mercy and patience and goodness and grace and love, the more we will treasure him. And the more we treasure him, the more he is consciously and joyfully glorified.” Our mind is a gift from God. He gave it to us so we would be able explore and consider the great mysteries of life and creation. He also gave us our minds so we can dive deep into His written word, consider the great truths revealed to us there, and come to know Him in increasingly deeper ways. Too often Christians express suspicion about intellectualism and they’re ambivalent about the life of the mind. Mostly that’s an excuse for being lazy. It’s a means of granting ourselves permission to remain satisfied with children’s Bible stories and bumper sticker slogans. Richard Foster was correct when he declared “Superficiality is the curse of our age!” Training ourselves to be deep thinkers isn’t easy. Especially in our “information age” where we’re so overloaded with a constant flood of information, and our senses are over-stimulated to the point of making our brains numb. But it can be done. It must be done. Thinking deeply about God and His ways helps us to know Him better and to love Him more. If we don’t do it, our faith will be simplistic and superficial, and we will be shallow Christians. I urge you not to settle for superficial and shallow. God Bless, Pastor Jim |
| Copyright © 2020 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. |
-
Follow
Following
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Oak Hill Baptist Church 