It is somewhat surprising to me how many times the Scripture addresses our minds, and how we ought to be exercising them for righteous ends.
“As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the LORD searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever.” – 1 Chronicles 28:9 NKJV
“Use it or Lose it” regarding YOUR MIND:
Most of us associate the title of this article “Use it or Lose” in connection to our physical bodies. Originally, the phrase was used to describe how negligence and error in physical activity can destroy health. “Use it or Lose it.” If you stop using any part of your body, including your mind, it atrophies. Like muscles that grow through exercise, the brain is capable of far greater endurance and imagination than we can fathom. And when we exercise it repeatedly, it grows stronger and larger by recruiting new neuronal connections. If we fail to use our minds, they atrophy. And when the mind atrophies, the soul shrivels and shrinks. (Look to Dr. Walter Bortz: Lifestyle Medicine Pioneer for an intriguing study of his research).
If you are interested, I wrote an article in 2019, pertaining to the importance of using our minds for the Kingdom of God—Honing our minds September 23, 2019.
“Use it or Lose it” regarding YOUR READING:
“The average American reads four books a year. Compare that to the average CEO who reads four to five books a month and it’s easy to see how reading one book a week—fifty-two books a year—is a huge advantage in business, learning, and life. There’s no denying that leaders are readers.” – (Taken from Jim Kwik, Kwik Brain, Linkedin Dec 24, 2023). It is also interesting to know that CEO’S earn 536 times as much as the average person.
I know we are busy, but we are not too busy to not pick up even a couple books per year and read them. What would the results be if you read and integrated into your life the contents of a few biblically oriented books? This is one reason it is so wise to read through the Bible, or read and meditate on it habitually! Notice in the verse below— When you internalize God’s words, His words penetrate our souls (our mind, will, and emotions)!
“When I discovered your words, I devoured [ate NASV] them. They are my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, O LORD God of Heaven’s Armies.” – Jeremiah 15:16 NLT
“Use it or Lose it” regarding YOUR LOVE:
With so much talk about love these days, it is intriguing to me that the Lord God not only tells us what true love (moral sacrificial giving rooted in Truth) is throughout Scripture, but He also tells us how our love ought to be directed. Please reflect on Mark 12:30, even though you’ve likely heard it hundreds of times. 🙂
“And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This [is] the first commandment.” – Mark 12:30 NKJV
“Loving God with all your mind literally means loving God with all your mind! It means managing your mind. It means making the most of your mind. It means loving God logically and creatively, seriously, and humorously, intuitively and thoughtfully!” — Mark Batterson, Primal A quest for the lost soul of Christianity, p. 94
Listen friends, if I can develop a desire to read, with a moderate case of dyslexia, you can develop reading skills too, even if you are not a reader. So, like I say about a lot of things “let’s take it up a notch or two.” If you read 1-2 more books in a year’s time, that is success. The Lord’s not looking for perfection, but He is looking for progress. (2 Peter 1:5). Let’s progress together.
“Use It or Lose It” regarding YOUR OBEDIENCE:
“But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, [that is], those who by reason of use (practice, training) have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” – Hebrews 5:14 NKJV
A significant learning for me has been when I read and learn a new truth, I will attempt to immediately share this truth with another person, or seek to put it into practice right away. When I do this, in conversations especially, I learn how I want to communicate it better, words and phrases that are constructive, and get to see the positive results that transpire through the conversation.
When I learn a truth from the Word of God, He calls me to obey it. My learning is in direct proportion to my intentional and incremental steps of obedience. If I don’t use it, I lose it. Once I use it there is a greater chance that God will cement it into my being, at the very core of my motives! The more I obey, the more I learn. Learning then does not simply become a cognitive practice. When I obey the Spirit of God, He infuses me, enlightens me, and empowers me. He seems to bring fresh power, resulting in transformation in my life and character.
“For the kingdom of God [is] not in word but in power.” – 1 Corinthians 4:20 NKJV]
After all isn’t this what James teaches us?
“22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. … 25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the [law] of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.” – James 1:22, 25 NASB95
Because of my learning disabilities, I have been looking back on my life to better understand why I began on the journey of reading in the first place. It actually started when I was in college facing, for the first time, the spiritual wasteland of academia. Essentially, I learned to read to survive and “contend for the Faith” (Jude 1:3)! Most of my teachers were assertively antichrist in spirit and were bold in presenting a contradictory view of Christianity. I either had to survive or comply.
“Use it or lose it” By expanding YOUR KNOWLEDGE:
“’There is not one square inch of the entire creation’, said Abraham Kuyper, ‘about which Jesus Christ does not cry out, ‘This is mine! This belongs to me!’” – Abraham Kuyper.
“God gave Solomon very great wisdom and understanding, and knowledge as vast as the sands of the seashore. … 32 He composed some 3,000 proverbs and wrote 1,005 songs. 33 He could speak with authority about all kinds of plants, from the great cedar of Lebanon to the tiny hyssop that grows from cracks in a wall. He could also speak about animals, birds, small creatures, and fish. 34 And kings from every nation sent their ambassadors to listen to the wisdom of Solomon.” – 1 Kings 4:29, 32-34 NLT
I think King Solomon was a renaissance man 2,500 years before the Renaissance! His knowledge wasn’t confined to theology. He had extensive knowledge ranging from botany to etymology to zoology. I’d like to think of Solomon as a person, or a patron saint of curiosity. Evidently, he was interested in everything, and I wonder if it was because of his breadth of knowledge that aided him with such a depth of wisdom. Listen to the fascinating statement that he wrote in Proverbs:
“It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings” – Proverbs 52:2
“Use it or Lose it” regarding REPETITION:
“When all Israel comes to appear before the Lord in the place that He will choose. You shall read this teaching aloud in the presence of all Israel. Gather the people—men, women, children, and the strangers in your communities—that they may hear and so learn to revere the Lord your God and to observe faithfully every word of this teaching.” – Deuteronomy 31:11, 12 JPST
The Jews are still around, in large part, because of repetitive rituals.
I am a second-time learner. I don’t get it the first time I hear it. I need my Mother– “Repetition is the Mother of Learning!” I will most often not say, “I know that”, because most of the time “I have not learned that.” This why when I meet with people, and we are reading Scripture, I have them read it out loud even if I have heard it before. I also listen to people when they tell the same stories because I learn something new each time they repeat it. I can’t recall a time when I have interrupted somebody and said “you’ve told me this story already.“ 🙂
So how are you in developing your reading and learning skills?
#1 Increase your reading if you feel like you need to improve in this area.
#2 When you read and learn a truth, pass it on to others. Please do not keep it for yourself!
#3 Reading with the view to elevate God’s attributes, will release the Holy Spirit’s words and actions through you! (See Daniel 11:32 NKJV)
#4 Focus on the immediacy of your application of the truth.
#5 Whatever you read, RE-read it!
#6 Memorize any of the verses listed above that strike your fancy☺!
Hey, Gang, we are all learning together!
Dale