A Beautiful Mind

God gave an amazing gift in the human mind. The brain is more complex and sophisticated than any super computer. Let me share a few facts with you to illustrate this point.

Did you know the brain has enough storage capacity to last 3 million years? That is in each of us. Sometimes we may feel we are bombarded with so much information it feels overwhelming. The truth is there is ample room to store all that information and much more.

Did you know the average person only uses 0.001% of their brains? Over the course of an entire lifetime the average person will only 6-8%. There is so much more room for us to learn and grow intellectually. Most of us have never tapped into even a fraction of what God designed our brains to be able to do.

The brain can perform 4 million actions per second. That is the speed of thinking. And on any given day we think around 60,000 thoughts. These thoughts can be good and healthy ones or bad and destructive ones. We choose what we dwell on.

When I learned these statistics and much more recently, I sat stunned. Amazed. Mesmerized by the power of the brain God gifted inside us. I felt humbled. I also felt ashamed I have not used the mental power God set inside me nearly enough.

I also learned, that if we keep using the mind and commit ourselves to learning, we can keep a sharp mind all of our days. That means you can grow intelligence over a lifetime. The brain does not deteriorate with old age. If we continue to use it, and the more we use it the brain matures. The more we stimulate the brain the more we can increase our intelligence. That is an amazing truth that defies the long held belief that we lose mental capabilities in our twilight years. That is true if we quit learning, growing and stimulating the brain.

We are increasingly becoming a dumbed down society. We let computers think for us. When is the last time you spent time pondering? Have you meditated on truth, more specifically, God's truth in recent days? What good book are you currently reading? Have you recently taken up new hobbies or interests? Have you memorized anything recently? How do you work at stimulating your brain to keep it firing and working?

My guess is that many have little time to ponder. Life is filled with noise and activity. When not busy, so many are content to sit in front of televisions and check out mentally. I bet not many regularly meditate on the truth of scripture. Some may read it hurriedly, but not take the time to reflect deeply on what they have read. Fewer memorize scripture. I bet there is more than one book sitting around that was half read but never finished.

We should commit ourselves to become lifelong learners. To be students till our dying breath. To challenge ourselves intellectually. To take up new interests. To grow intellectually. Maybe some should even go back to school. I heard the story about an 84 year old man who was forced to retire from his job. He went back to college and earned an accounting degree and then worked the rest of his life as certified public accountant. He did not graduate until he was 88!

God gave us a beautiful mind. What will we use it for? How will we invest our time in developing that mind? We live in a world of information. Admittedly some of it is bad. THERE IS SO MUCH GOOD. No subject is more worthy of our study, rigorous intellectual pursuit, disciplined inquiry than the study of God and His word. I hope we will use some of that 3 million years worth of storage capacity to study Him.