Feelings reign supreme in our culture.
So many people have bought into the lie that how you feel determines what’s real.
What we need is more thinking. We need to love God with our minds.
One of my mentors J.P. Moreland, put it this way:
“The spiritual journey is certainly more than loving God with our minds, but just as surely, that journey is at least a life of such intellectual devotion.”
One of the reasons is that we don’t engage the mind and think more is that we are too busy. I mean who has the time to read a book? Or think about something for longer than three minutes?
Moving From “How I Feel” to “How I Think”
If we want to grow personally and help teenagers follow Jesus for a lifetime, then we must help them learn how to think well. This is part of our worship of God. Not all of it, but a major part of it.
Pay attention to how many conversations begin with “I feel that” rather than “I think that.”
Feelings are important and good barometers of what is going on inside, but thinking helps us successfully navigate life.
Jesus explained the greatest commandment:
“And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”–Luke 10:27
Putting This Into Action
- Pick a book of the Bible (like Philippians or Colossians) and read it every day for the next week (it will take about 15 minutes)
- Find a physical book (not a digital copy) and set aside 10 minutes a day to read it.
- Around the dinner table, ask your kids what they think about what they learned in school or church that day. Ask them to give you reasons they agree or disagree with whatever they share.
These are small things that can make a big difference!
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