Episode Details

Does studying your faith too deeply put your heart at risk? In Part 8 of our "Made for Something" series, Pastor Mike Woodruff pushes back on a myth he's heard for years — "seminary, cemetery," the idea that thinking hard about God cools your love for him. He makes the case for exactly the opposite.

Jesus explicitly commands us to love God with our mind, not just our heart, soul, and strength. Mike names something he sees as one of the most neglected corners of the church today: a subculture that has largely stopped thinking deeply about anything, snacking on headlines and shallow social media instead of wrestling with truth. Drawing on Romans 12 and John Stott's classic book Your Mind Matters, Mike argues the mind isn't the enemy of the heart — it's the kindling. Worship without truth collapses into sentimentality; truth that never reaches the heart hardens into dead orthodoxy. God wants neither a warm heart with an empty head nor a full head with a cold heart. Mike gets practical, too, revisiting his old "10 plus 10" rule for daily Bible study and prayer — and explaining why, in today's climate of shallow thinking and loud social media, that minimum may no longer be enough. He also gives permission to bring your hardest questions to God rather than suppressing them.

This is Part 8 of our multi-week series unpacking the Greatest Commandment, one piece at a time.

📖 Scripture focus: Matthew 22:37 ("love the Lord your God... with all your mind"); Romans 12:2; Colossians 1:15
🎙️ Speaker: Pastor Mike Woodruff
📅 "Made for Something" Devotional Series — a multi-week journey into purpose and calling

In this devotional you'll learn:

• Why Jesus commands us to love God with our mind, not just our emotions
• John Stott's argument (from Your Mind Matters) that the mind is kindling for the heart, not its enemy
• Why worship without truth collapses into sentimentality, and truth without heart hardens into dead orthodoxy
• A practical starting point for daily Bible study and prayer — and why the bar may need to be higher today
• Why bringing your hardest questions to God is healthy, not something to hide

👉 New to our devotionals? We post short, daily devotionals designed to help you start your day grounded in Scripture. "Made for Something" is a multi-week series exploring purpose, calling, and what it means to be made on purpose, for a purpose.

Frequently asked:
What does it mean to love God with all your mind? It means engaging your faith thoughtfully — studying Scripture, wrestling with hard questions, and letting truth inform and fuel your love for God, rather than relying on emotion alone.
Does studying theology weaken your faith? According to this teaching, no — thinking deeply about God is meant to strengthen faith, not weaken it. The danger isn't too much thinking, but truth that never moves the heart, or emotion that's never grounded in truth.
How much time should I spend in Bible study and prayer each day? Mike references a simple "10 plus 10" starting point — 10 minutes of Bible study and 10 minutes of prayer daily — while noting that given today's distractions, many people may need more than that baseline.

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