On May 19, 2023 Tim Keller died. He was a best-selling author, pastor and apologist.

He spoke to millions, met with Presidents, but was ever down-to-earth.

My first introduction to his writing was through his best-seller, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism. His writing gave evidence of a genuine, biblical faith which was undergirded by a vigorous intelligence.

The book addressed things like: ‘How could a good God allow suffering?’ and ‘Has science disproved Christianity?’ It not only included defenses against popular objections to the faith, but compelling and rational reasons to believe in the modern era.

The reason I point all this out is because we can easily fall victim to the idea that faith is only about feelings or instinct. Although those things might have a role to play, faith includes our brains as well. 

Keller encouraged us to flex those muscles. He wrote: “People believe in God not merely because they feel some sort of emotional need, but because it makes sense of what they see and experience.”*

In Mark 12:30 Jesus said: “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” This means we are to love God with our whole selves—including our minds. Jesus said so.

As a way to honour his memory, I put together a blog and podcast with 45 of his quotes. You can link to it below. If you find any of them compelling, I encourage you to get the books, read the longer sections of which they are a part, and engage the muscles of your mind alongside the affections of your heart.

Either way, the point is this. One of the ways you can serve and glorify God is to use the brain he gave you. A thinking Christian is a faithful Christian. But you need to make the effort, especially in a time when faith is quickly and increasingly dismissed or attacked.

Personally, as I have continued to learn and study, my faith has become stronger—not despite the evidence, but because of it.

The same can be true for you.

And you shall love the Lord your God… with all your mind.

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Notes:

—New blog and podcast: “45 Quotes by Tim Keller.”Click here. You can also listen at ‘The Pulse Podcast with Matthew Ruttan’ wherever you subscribe: Apple, Google, Spotify, Amazon, Audible, Stitcher and TuneIn.

–*Timothy Keller, Making Sense of God: An Invitation to the Skeptical (New York: Viking, 2016), 23.

–Bible quotes are from the NIV.