In the past installments we have established that God
has blessed each one of us with personhood. This means
that each one of us, being made to the image and likeness
of God, has been endowed with a soul with which we are
capable of thought and of performing ordinary acts of life
with freedom. The mind (intellect) makes it possible for us
to fulfill one of the purposes of life as given to us by our
Creator, namely, to know God. With the heart (will) we
are able to fulfill the ultimate purpose of being, that of
giving service to God.
God made us to know Him, to love Him, and to serve
Him, and to be happy with Him for all eternity. In order
for us to achieve our final purpose, eternal happiness, it is
required of us to give service to our God. We cannot truly
serve God until and unless we have a love for Him. We
cannot hope to love Him unless we get to know Him first.
From this it can be seen that it is a forward and upward
climb. Our final destiny cannot be attained until we take
that climb step by step.
The mind is
that which can and will take within itself
anything that is presented to it by way of the five bodily
senses, that of sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste. It
responds to whatever stimulus sets itself before it. This
means that although the mind has been given primarily to
know God, it is free to seek to know and to know about
others. It can occupy itself with objects which in no way
have anything to do with God. A person can spend the
entire lifetime making use of his or her mind without ever
giving God a single thought. It is also true that one can
make use of one's will without ever giving God a smidgen
of love. It goes without saying that in the final analysis of
one's life on this earth, a person can be of service to
objects and/or persons without in any way doing
something in the service of his or her God. A person can
go through life in a way that when all is said and done,
he/she in no way accomplishes the purpose set for his or
her purpose on earth.
Unfortunately, most people of our day are making use
of their mind for purposes other than to get to know God.
They are locked into a culture wherein the mind is king, if
not at times, considered even as a god unto itself. This is
the reason why the moral life of our day is at such a low
ebb. Much of the world is not giving service to God, why,
because it does not see Him as loveable. He is not seen as
loveable because He is not presented as loveable by the
mind. There is in our day a mass deviation from course.
Objects other than God are continuously presented to the
will by the mind as being of greater value than God. A
variety of gods are held in focus and offered as priorities
in the pursuit of happiness.
The mind is a marvelous invention. The Creator is to be
given credit for His ingenuity. There is nothing like it that
man himself can ever come up with in making use of his
own creative powers. If the mind is considered in and for
itself, it sets before its users an obstacle to the achievement
of his happiness. It was never created to be a creation unto
itself. It was created for only one purpose, to serve as a
means to an end, the end being to assist man to get to
know his Creator and to discover His loveable qualities.
Next week, I will delve further into the mind-set of the
mind and how this gift from God was intended to be used
when He created man.