Mind Love

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Matthew 22:36–38 (KJV) Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.

What is it speaking to me?

There are a lot of ways we can love God with our minds, and we have considered many in these devotionals. One that struck me again today is applying our minds to the study of His Word. Have you ever taken a hard look at a set of Scriptures to see what you learn beyond the first (or eleventh) read? Loving Him with our minds can mean, among many other things, carefully considering His Word: taking it in, wrestling with the text, the language, the history, and what others have written about it. We can then let it renew our minds and sharpen our understanding of the glorious riches in this inspired text.

To share some richness I have dug out recently: I was reading Revelation (the best book in the Bible, in my opinion) and got curious about chapter 21, verse 4: “And he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will no longer exist, nor mourning, nor crying, nor pain will exist any longer; because the former things have gone away.”

I started doing a deep dive into the verse and learned that the verb behind “wipe away” is a compound Greek word built on a root meaning “to smear” or “anoint” with oil or wax. With its prefix, it became the ordinary word for erasing writing. Scribes “wiped out” ink from papyrus or smoothed over a wax tablet to remove what was written on it. Paul uses this same verb in Colossians 2:14 for God “erasing” the record of debt against believers.

So when John writes that God will “wipe out” every tear, the image is not a gentle dabbing of moisture from a cheek, as the English suggests, but a total erasure. It is almost as if God completely blots out grief itself, leaving no trace or residue behind. In my mind, that strengthens the surety of the passage. Tears will not simply stop for now. Sorrow is being permanently removed and written over with everlasting joy.

I don’t know about you, but an already great verse got even greater. This is part of the wonder of the Word of God: there is layer upon layer of riches waiting for us if we will love the Lord with our minds.

What is it saying to you?

What is your favorite verse?

Have you studied it before?

How do you like to study the Word?

What are we going to do about it?

Pick a verse or set of verses today and spend a bit of time researching it. Look into the context, a historical detail, or some commentary on the language. Be enriched.