By Pastor Pete Smith
January 16, 2025

“Hearts and Minds” is a psychological operation employed by an invading military designed to gain the confidence of the people being invaded.  While brute force may be used to gain initial control, subsequent actions benefit the populace such as the provision of electricity or clean water where there previously was none.  A popular representation of that effort is the image of a fully outfitted soldier kneeling to talk to a child or smiling as he shakes hands with a local community member.

The effectiveness of a “hearts and minds campaign” as a military strategy is up for debate, but on the spiritual battlefield, it’s indisputable.  That said, if you have a healthy view of how you were saved, what you were saved from and the future you’ve been saved to, then you’ll recognize that the hearts and minds campaign is not God’s, it’s yours.

For the Christian, God has already secured the victory.  The cost that was paid for your salvation transcends the combined toll of all wars over all time.  While you were still his enemy, you were justified by Christ’s blood.  The sinless Son was crushed for your sins, conquering the death that reigned in you.

According to Romans 10:17, your faith came by hearing the word of Christ.  That is, at some point your mind was intellectually engaged when the truth of Scripture was presented.  That truth was followed by the work of the Holy Spirit, when your “heart of stone” was replaced with a “heart of flesh.”  Ezekiel 36:27-28 says that the same Spirit will “cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey My rules.  You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your father, and you shall be my people and I will be your God.”  That God made you one of “His people” is reason enough to commit both heart and mind to Him!

If you were to assess yourself, would say you lean more to having a heart for the Lord or a mind?  Do you tend to spend more time in sacrificial service or academic study?  Of course, they are not at odds with each other.  If you truly have a heart for service, then you should be carrying it out in the manner God commands.  Performing good works by the world’s standards is a waste of time.  You need to know how, under what circumstance and to whom you should be serving if you want to please God.  In other words, effectively loving is biblical loving.  Knowing Scripture is how you serve best!

Conversely, a head full of theological understanding is pointless if it has no biblical action.  James describes that person as “foolish” (Jas. 2:20).  After all, it was the most scholarly students of the Bible that crucified Jesus.  A believer’s study of Scripture should reveal that they are “God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for [you] to do” (Eph 2:10).

The Christian life is one of both heart and mind.  The heat of your heart should increase as the light of your mind grows brighter.  Conversely, a true servant should want to serve well, which can only be learned by study and meditation on God’s word.

If meaningful study of the Bible and heart-filled service to others is a scale, how balanced are you?  As the “body” of Christ, are you in danger of falling into one of the ditches of being all heart and no brains or all brains and no heart?  According to Jesus, the greatest commandment requires loving God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.  Take a moment to consider if you are fully committing both heart and mind to God.

“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,” (Hebrews 10:16)

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