Now that my book is available in English and Spanish, I often hear three reasons for not reading it. The first is, “I don’t read.” I addressed this response in the first blog of this series. The second is, “I won’t understand.” I discussed this response in the second post. The third reason is, “I’m not interested,” which is the topic of this commentary.

When I hear, “I’m not interested,” I want to ask, “Why? What precisely are you not interested in?”

I often discover that Christians who do not want to deepen their understanding of the Bible and theology or about loving God with the mind, simply lack the acquired taste. They have gorged on “junk food for the mind” from popular culture. As we saw in the previous two posts, many believers, sadly, suffer from distraction and indifference resulting from an unhealthy mental diet.

Often, negative attitudes and behaviors appear among those who come to “taste” what we offer at the Kuyper Center for Christian Studies. Below, I list several “defeater beliefs and practices” of those who struggle with the concept and calling of mental piety.

Anti-intellectualism: Some resist study and reflection because their religious tradition minimizes the need for theology or intellectual effort. Many know very little about the Bible and theology, worldview or the relevant biblical-theological thinkers. And they usually do not perceive the need or relevance of such knowledge.

Consumer approach: Some “shop” for knowledge, learning formats, and instructors that conform to their “buying” preferences. When study becomes difficult or boring, they take their “business” elsewhere.

Passivity: Some fulfill the role assigned to them by society― intellectual simplicity and subjective spirituality.

There comes a moment, however, for Christians to reckon with the stewardship of their minds. This is what true disciples do. As an aspect of spiritual discipline, they practice ongoing self-reflection and repentance under scripture and the leading of the Holy Spirit. Consider what Paul told us:

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!—assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. (Eph 4:17–24)