Heart and Minds, response to a question

Recently a reader posted this question:
"I have a question: what do you mean by "Is your faith limited to thinking, or does it go beyond that?" I've always been a bit perplexed concerning the relationship between head & heart, knowing & believing. I'm not a very intellectual person (It's a bit harsh to say "I'm not smart"), and at times I really wonder how much I need to know and understand. What is the "....beyond that"? "

This is a great question, and one that many of us struggle with, so I decided it deserved a new entry rather than a comment. And it's a question that the book of James, which I've been writing about recently, helps us answer.

When we think about knowledge versus belief, head versus heart, I think that most of us tend towards one extreme or the other. Some of us tend to intellectualize our faith such that it becomes exclusively a matter of proper theology and doctrine. Others of us tend to simply rely on the experience of faith and worship, and don't want to get bogged down with deeper issues of Christian thought. Most of us could pretty easily identify which extreme we tend toward.

When I asked "Is your faith limited to thinking, or does it go beyond that?" I was echoing the challenge Piper issued in that quotation to those of us who tend to intellectualize our faith. James tells us that "faith without works is dead." Faith in Christ calls us to action, and James, throughout his epistle, shows us particular examples of such action. Paul often talks about pursuing holiness, being conformed to the image of Christ, of putting off the old self and putting on the new. True faith in Christ should inevitably lead to action, and it should also engage our whole beings - emotions and, yes, intellect.

Yet we must be sure that action (or experience, which is what many cling to in our culture) without the foundation of knowledge is misguided and even deceptive. I wrote about a month ago on contentment, pointing out that our faith does rest on content - the truth of the gospel and of Scripture. We should strive and work to understand it, to grow in grace and knowledge, as Scripture exhorts us to do.

So, my long winded answer to the question is that we must continue to grow in our understanding of Scripture. The mind is like the body, capable of being stretched and exercised, and we are called to love the Lord our God with all of our minds. But not just our minds - but also our hearts, etc. I hope this helps. I'll pick back up with James tomorrow.