INFORMATION AND THE ABILITY TO THINK - Two other factors in our thought life can be used by God to break the power of the toxic system of ideas and images that make us dead to God. These are information (or facts) and our ability to think—to connect things in our mind. 

After God has implanted new life from above in us by Word and Spirit, we must take the initiative in progressively retaking the whole of our thought life for God’s kingdom. Failure to know what God is really like and what his law requires destroys the soul, ruins society, and leaves people to eternal ruin: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge,” and “A people without understanding comes to ruin” (Hosea 4:6,14, NRSV). 

This is the tragic condition of Western culture today, which has put away the information about God that God himself has made available. Spiritual formation requires thinking. The gospel of Jesus repudiates false information about God and the meaning of human life, and it works to undermine the power of those ideas and images that structure life away from God. But for it to have this effect we must use our ability to think. 

What is thinking? It is the activity of searching out what must be true or cannot be true in the light of given facts or assumptions. It extends the information we have and enables us to see the larger picture clearly. It undermines false or misleading ideas and images. It is a powerful gift from God to be used in the service of truth. We must apply our thinking to the Word of God. We must thoughtfully take it in, dwell upon it, ponder its meaning, and explore its implications, especially as it relates to our own lives. We must seek the Lord by devoting our powers of thinking to understanding the facts and information of the gospel. This is the primary way of focusing our mind on him, setting him before us.



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