Glorifying God with everything we have – Part 2 – The Mental

Our minds, just like our bodies, require exercise and rest. But one more necessary item that most minds lack is good food. People feed their minds, for sure, but it is not good to rely on the appetizers, like music and blog reading, to constitute the majority of our mental meals. So the question is, what are we to think about? What food should we cram down our mental throat? Philippians 4:8 is a great guideline. It says: “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are honest, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” That's a great verse to think on, isn't it. But how do we do all this? Can you just go and meditate – just like that? Since I am no expert on the matter, I will use the Navigator's hand illustration.

The first finger is hearing. First you hear the word, and this from parents or missionary's or whoever. This causes you to go and read the Bible. Then you are convinced and you jump to the third finger, and you study the Bible.

At this point whenever you read or study the Bible, you are glorifying God with your thoughts, but it is always better to make that a little more portable.¹ So hopefully you then go to the next finger and memorize the Bible. The fourth finger is very important. I know that I have talked about this topic somewhat considerably, but when thoughts wander, they must be checked. What better way to do this than to recite memorized scripture? And if you ever went to jail or you had no Bible for a prolonged period of time, what would you do for your spiritual life? If you haven't committed very much of the scripture to heart, I encourage you to do so.

Lastly, meditation. This, for no small reason, is the thumb of the hand. Deeply mulling over God's word helps keep the studying on a deeper level. And a deeper walk with our Lord is to be desired, right?

Anyway, we need to take every thought captive. Thanks for reading, and Providence permitting I will give the last part of the series, on the spiritual side of life, next Thursday.

¹This does not mean that you can not glorify God without always reciting scripture. But I won't talk about that now.