By Marlon De Blasio, Op-ed contributor
In Christian grace, spiritual mindedness usually depicts believers who are seeking a deeper experience with God. Spiritual mindedness is also perceived amusingly as “too heavenly minded with no earthly good.” Nevertheless, Scripture teaches that “to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace” (Rom. 8:6). So it’s helpful to know if there is anything notable about pursuing spiritual mindedness in the scriptural sense.
Here are 3 traits that I believe identify with what it means to be spiritually minded, though there are certainly more.
1. The Lord’s forgiveness is a living reality
Foundational to Christian faith is personally knowing the reality of forgiveness by God’s grace. It’s where it all begins. Jesus emphasized how genuine repentance and its experience of grace will make an indelible impact in a believer’s life. He said of the repentant woman who washed His feet with her tears: “Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven — for she loved much” (Luke 7:44-47). She began to “love much” as demonstrated by washing His feet with her tears, because she experienced the removal of guilt by Jesus Himself. The reality of the Lord’s forgiveness by the indelible experience of grace is powerful for those who will “love much.”
Forgiveness also makes the spiritually minded wise about how grace should be extended to others. I was moved recently by the story of a Christian lady and how she defined forgiveness: “But forgiveness itself — a determined posture of the heart to choose love and refuse bitterness — is always possible, and it benefits me even more than the person who wronged me.” This is spiritual mindedness as known by those whom the grace of God has significantly impacted. Altogether, the power of God’s forgiveness in the lives of the spiritually minded is far more than an evangelical creed.
2. Knowledge of God is always more than sound theology
Traditionally, we have been accustomed to celebrating those whose sound theology and eloquent articulations have shaped evangelical discourse. The spiritually minded, however, are not satisfied by simply pledging allegiance to sound theology. Their spiritual taste buds have sampled the flavors of God’s knowledge and found it delicious. “How sweet are your words to my taste,” the Psalmist said, “sweeter than honey to my mouth” (119:103). They want more of that.
In Knowing God, J. I. Packer explained how the spiritually minded know the distinction between right theology and “deeper acquaintance” with God:
If the decisive factor was notional correctness, then obviously the most learned biblical scholars would know God better than anyone else. But it is not; you can have all the right notions in your head without ever tasting in your heart the realities to which they refer; and a simple Bible reader … who is full of the Holy Ghost will develop a far deeper acquaintance with his God and Saviour than more learned men who are content with being theologically correct.[1]
Consider the foregoing with what Paul wrote in Ephesians: “For by grace you have been saved through faith … it is the gift of God, not a result of works” (2:8-9). Sola Gratia has become the creed for sound evangelical theology and its denial is deemed heretical, and rightly so. However, the affirmation of the theological correctness of what Paul meant by grace alone and the personal experience of that theology are distinct matters. The spiritually minded have more than a creedal affirmation. They have a profoundly personal appreciation of what grace has done, and is doing, in their lives. Salvation is truly being known as “the gift of God.”
3. The spiritually minded make gracious impacts
Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth … The light of the world” (Matt. 5:13-14). So it’s not that spiritually minded believers will begin to live like mystics in reclusive lifestyles. They are engaging their societies. They are blue-collar workers and white-collar, specialized professionals, athletes, students, first responders, etc. What characterizes them is how gracious they become within their fields and communities. For them, Christian faith is truly a personal connection with Scripture that affects their lives. As theologian Dennis Ngien has written recently in God’s Most Earnest Purpose: “To believe in God is to trust in him, with a certainty that he relates to me as truly as Scripture teaches.” [2]
Their conversation is also gracious. I know there are some that will disagree with me, but the spiritually minded do not cuss. They don’t. Whether in speech, emails, meetings, or in what they post on social media, they witness to what Paul said to the Colossians: “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt” (4:6). Neither are the spiritually minded pushovers. They are a testament to what Jesus said, “be wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (Matt. 10:16). They value their biblical convictions and can graciously say, “‘Yes’ or ‘No’” (Matt. 5:37).
Finally, spiritual mindedness comes from the believer knowing that faith has an actual object. Christian faith means apprehending in a very real way what God is offering. It’s not merely assenting to all the correct doctrines but allowing the Spirit to impress Scripture upon the mind and the heart. It’s wonderfully meaningful for the spiritually minded to affirm with Paul, “I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me” (2 Tim. 1:12).
Notes
1. (InterVarsity Press: London, 1977), 34-35.
2. (Fortress Press: Minneapolis, 2026), 42. Italics added for emphases.
Marlon De Blasio, Ph.D. is a cultural apologist, Christian writer and speaker, and the author of Discerning Culture. For more info about Marlon visit his blog: thechristianangle.com
