April 12, 2023

The Bible Edge

Everyone needs an Edge, Believers can have the Bible Edge

Mark 12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

Every car with an internal combustion engine has an oil filter. Clean oil is necessary to keep the engine in good working order. Polluted oil, or no oil, will ultimately cause engine failure. The internal metal parts of the engine move at a very high rate of speed, which causes friction. The fresh clean oil lubricates the moving parts and keeps the engine cool. If the oil ceases to do what it is designed to do, the engine will become overheated which can cause many difficulties. Loving God with all your mind is like that. It is a filter.

A mind that is totally absorbed with love for God filters out anything that would pollute the mind against God. If this filter fails, things can enter into our mind causing friction. If this filter is clogged, overwhelmed by wrong thoughts and stimuli, the oil (the Holy Spirit) will have a difficult time getting through, His impact will be restrained. Either of these, failure or being clogged, will ultimately cause a mind problem, which will result in costly repairs. For example: a mind totally in love with God knows that “God is good all the time” (here the congregation would say “and all the time God is good”). So, if something unfortunate takes place, (financial downturn, health issues, marital difficulty, etc., etc.) our filter, which is totally loving God with all our mind, will stop any thoughts of bitterness, anger, or resentment toward God. Ask any pastor, they will tell you that there is an epidemic today of individuals harboring bitterness, anger, and resentment toward the Lord God.

Why? Largely because the mind has allowed things to bypass the filter of the first commandment. You see, loving God with all the mind means that there is no room for any thought that is outside the purview of that love. For example, someone may think “God did me wrong.” The total and complete love of God filter would dismiss that thought as being erroneous since the Bible truth is: We love him, because he first loved us (I John 4:19). We know that His love would not allow Him to “do us wrong”. Therefore because of our complete love for Him, any thought that He has wronged us is filtered out. It is not a possibility.

Loving God with all our mind is a filter that needs continual maintenance (devotions, Bible reading, church attendance, ministering to the needs of others, etc.). The best advice to keep your car engine running smoothly for many years is to change the oil and filter at regular intervals. And the best advice for keeping your mind running smoothly is to determine to love God with all your mind. That’s an edge, a Bible Edge.

William Howe, Ph.D.