Do you know what week this is?

Apple week.

Not pie, sorry.

I will go to our storage building and pull out my box of apple décor, because “an apple for the teacher,” you know? My kids have always known that when the apples go up, summer is officially over and school is soon to start.

And I say that when the nighttime temperatures start to dip into the low 40s, you must say, “Goodbye, goodbye summer. Come again when you can stay longer.”

Brains that have thought only of lemonade and kayaks for a few months now have to get warmed up for learning, and I think it’s a good time for adult brains to warm up for thinking, too.

Jesus tells us the greatest commandment of God:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind.”  (Luke 10:27a NIV)

Ten Ways to Love God with All Your Mind

Pray continually. This is first a discipline, to stay in conversation with God. Then one day you wake up and find you just can’t help it. God is an indescribable companion.

Challenge every thought. Paul David Tripp, in War of Words, says, “We just let our thoughts run without challenging them.” Is your current thinking running away with you, or is it reined in to obey Christ?

Read well. I highly recommend Counterfeit Gods by Timothy Keller. It’s a game changer for the human soul.

Memorize a Bible verse. Work on it every day until it’s in your heart. Then start another one.

Improve your craft. God has given you special gifts that help build his kingdom. When’s the last time you worked to improve what you do? Read a book on the subject. Learn something new about it. Get organized. Pray for God to guide you in using it.

Evaluate your expenditures. We constantly think about money and where we want to spend it. Challenge your thoughts on money and see if they’re lining up with God’s.

Commit your future to the Lord. We don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, but we spend an exorbitant amount of brain power thinking about it. Choose to think biblically about your own future.

Create a helpful environment. When you walk around your home or work area, does your environment distract your brain from praying or encourage you to think about the Lord?

Think well of others. Pray for your enemies. Do the mental work to forgive. Overlook faults on a regular basis. Give the benefit of the doubt.

Mentally bring the gospel into every situation. How does God’s story of creation, the fall of man, redemption, and hope of transformation fit into each circumstance in your day? Let the gospel be a lens through which you choose to look at the world.

Let me leave you with this shout from Scripture (Proverbs 4:7):

Wisdom is supreme;

therefore get wisdom.

Though it cost all you have,

get understanding.

Do you have any other good ideas about how to love God with your whole brain?