This week we’ve looked at different ways that “the pattern of this world” eases its way into our worldview. And this is the point at which we also need to talk about genuine mind renewal for Christians, which is what I will continue with next week. But I want to mention a helpful little book by John Stott, the Rector Emeritus of All Soul’s Church in London. It is titled Your Mind Matters. It deals with six spheres of Christian living, and it argues that each one is impossible without a proper and energetic use of our minds: Christian worship, Christian faith, Christian holiness, Christian guidance, Christian evangelism, and Christian ministry. We need to think.
Stott argues that “anti-intellectualism…is…part of the fashion of the world and therefore a form of worldliness. To denigrate the mind is to undermine foundational Christian doctrines.” He asks pointedly, “Has God created us rational beings, and shall we deny our humanity which he has given us? Has God spoken to us, and shall we not listen to his words? Has God renewed our mind through Christ, and shall we not think with it? Is God going to judge us by his Word, and shall we not be wise and build our house this upon rock?”1
They are important and helpful questions, if you think about them.
1John R. W. Stott, Your Mind Matters: The Place of the Mind in the Christian Life (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1972), 26.