It all starts with the mind...

When Jesus is asked what the most important commandment is in Mark's gospel, here is how he responds in Chapter 12:

'The most important one', answered Jesus, 'is this: "Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength."

Jesus has taken the most famous commandment in the book of Deuteronomy (chapter 6) but he's actually added something: Love the Lord with all your mind.

To love God with all our minds is to be 

engaged with what He thinks about the world.   

grappling with what He thinks about art.  

taking seriously His views on how we live life at art college 

and standing up as someone who follows their convictions.   

Being a Christian means integrating your faith with every part of life.  Everything we do, say, think and act upon stems from our minds.  Having the right thinking will impact every part of your life.  

In Romans chapter 12 Paul follows up on the importance of our minds with the following:

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - this is your true and proper worship.  Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

These are deeply challenging words aren't they? In view of God's mercy, in view of the glorious gospel, the extravagant love that has been showered on us through Christ,  we are called 'not to conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds.'

What's the pattern of the world of art college? What do you notice about the way people live, and think about the world?  The only way that you will live, and want to live, any differently is by renewing your mind and bathing in the sunshine of the gospel.  

As we spend time with the Lord, as we dwell on the riches of the gospel and his many mercies to us each and every day, we will be loving the Lord with our minds.  It's not a pie in the sky kind of faith we have.  It's a deeply intentional desire to be renewing our minds with truth, with love, with Christ.
And the overflow of loving the Lord with our minds will be a deep desire to integrate every part of our lives with our faith - to be loving him in the way that we make art work, to be seeking to honour him in the way that we don't gossip in the studio, and to be sharing the hope that we have with others as we engage in conversation.

So as you go into college today, be a thinking Christian.