The Christian Mind

For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. Romans 10.2

The Christian Mind
Harry Blamires (1916-)
“There is no subtler perversion of the Christian Faith than to treat it as a mere means to a worldly end, however admirable that end in itself may be. The Christian Faith is important because it is true…For the Christian Faith will remain true whether we who profess it turn into heroic saints or even more miserable sinners. We must insist that we worship God because he is God, not because we want something out of him. What a mean blasphemy it would be, to go through magnificent acts of public worship always with the dominant intention at the back of the mind – ‘This is really going to make a better chap of me!’ What arrogance and presumption to treat eternal God, enthroned in glory, as a visual aid to moral self-improvement.”

But isn’t this where much of worship is today? Haven’t we done just about everything we could think of to make worship more important to us, more enjoyable for us, more in line with what we find agreeable or meaningful, and more like what our unsaved, pop-culture saturated neighbors might find acceptable? We subvert the purpose of worship when we turn it into a platform for feeling good about ourselves, showing off our talents or presumed spirituality, or doing whatever we think might count for worship before the holy, eternal, and all-scrutinizing God (cf. Ps. 50). God has revealed the truth about Himself and the kind of worship He commands. We subvert the purpose of worship and pervert the truth of our faith when we presume to do God’s thing our way, simply because this is what we know, like, or think will be best. What arrogance and presumption, indeed!

What principles guide the worship in your church? How does your church decide what to do in worship, and how to do it?

Renewing the Mind
We are currently running a multi-part series on Renewing the Mind in our daily ReVision series. The sixth installment is entitled, The Mind of Christ in His World: Part 1, and is available as a free PDF download by going to the website, www.ailbe.org, clicking on today’s ReVision column entitled, “Speaking Everywhere” and clicking the link at the end. I urge you to follow this entire series, and to consider using it with your leaders. If you are not subscribed to ReVision, you can do so at the website. Or you can download each week’s PDF study in a format suitable for group or personal use.

Training for Christian Action
Our Mission Partners Outreach program is designed as a life-based training curriculum, to help church members identify and begin working their Personal Mission Fields for the purpose of making disciples and advancing Christ’s Kingdom. I’m looking for some men to lead through this training program, and to help you see how our Mission Partners Outreach programcan help your church overcome its failure to communicate. If you’re interested, drop me a line at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The Fellowship of Ailbe is supported through the generous and faithful gifts of those who benefit from and believe in our work. Does the Lord want to use you in this way? Please look to Him in prayer over this question. You can contribute to The Fellowship of Ailbe by using the Contribute button at our website, or by sending your gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, 19 Tyler Drive, Essex Junction, VT 05452. Thank you.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All quotations from The Christian Mind are from Harry Blamires, The Christian Mind (Ann Arbor: Servant Books, 1963, 1978).