How Should I Think? - eBook

How Should I Think? — A Biblical Guide to the Renewed Christian Mind

You are always thinking.

Every word you speak, every choice you make, every opinion you hold, every relationship you navigate — all of it flows from the mind that God has given you. Thinking is not something you do occasionally when faced with a difficult problem. It is the constant, unavoidable activity of every human being, every moment of every day.

And like every gift God gives, this one comes with profound responsibility.

In this concise and carefully reasoned booklet, Dr. R.C. Sproul — founder of Ligonier Ministries and one of the most trusted Reformed theologians of the twentieth century — takes up one of the most important questions a Christian can ask: How should I think?

Not just what should I think about — but how. With what assumptions. On what foundations. Toward what ends. And under what authority.

The answers Sproul provides are drawn entirely from Scripture — and they have the power to fundamentally reshape the way every believer approaches the gift of the mind that God has entrusted to them.

The Gift and the Responsibility

The human mind is one of the most extraordinary gifts God has given to his image-bearers. It is the faculty through which we know God, understand his Word, reason about his world, make moral decisions, love our neighbours, and engage with every dimension of human experience.

But the fall has deeply affected the mind. Scripture speaks plainly about the darkened understanding, the futile thinking, and the corrupted reasoning that sin produces in every human being. And it speaks equally plainly about the renewing of the mind that comes through the gospel — a transformation so radical that Paul describes it as the very means by which Christians are changed rather than conformed to this world.

This tension — between the mind as God’s good gift and the mind as a faculty that has been corrupted by sin and must be renewed by grace — is at the heart of what How Should I Think? explores.

Thinking as an Act of Worship

One of the most important convictions Sproul brings to this booklet is that how we think is not theologically neutral. The way a person reasons, the assumptions they bring to questions, the authorities they submit their thinking to — all of these are deeply spiritual matters. They reflect either a mind that is being renewed by the Word and Spirit of God, or a mind that is still being shaped by the patterns of a fallen world.

This means that thinking Christianly is an act of worship. It is one of the primary ways believers honour God with the gifts he has given them. And it is one of the primary ways the church is equipped to engage meaningfully with a world that desperately needs to hear and see the wisdom of the gospel.

What This Booklet Will Help You Do

• Understand the biblical foundation for Christian thinking — why the mind matters and what God calls us to do with it
• Recognise how sin has distorted human reasoning and how the gospel provides the renewal the mind needs
• Develop a biblically grounded framework for thinking about every area of life — from personal decisions to cultural engagement
• Learn how to bring every thought captive to Christ in practical, daily terms
• Engage more confidently and faithfully with the ideas, worldviews, and assumptions that surround you in a complex world
• Think with greater clarity, humility, and biblical wisdom about the questions that matter most
• Apply the renewed Christian mind to your relationships, your work, your conversations, and your calling

Who Should Read This Book?

How Should I Think? is ideal for:

• Every Christian who wants to honour God with their mind as well as their heart and hands
• Students and young adults navigating university environments where their faith and thinking are challenged daily
• New believers who are beginning to understand what it means to think Christianly for the first time
• Pastors and teachers looking for a concise, reliable resource on the Christian mind to recommend or use in teaching
• Anyone who has felt the tension between faith and reason and wants biblical clarity on how they relate
• Christians in professional, academic, or intellectual environments who want to engage their work with a genuinely Christian mind
• Small groups wanting a short, accessible discussion starter on the relationship between Christian faith and human thinking
• Anyone who has ever asked — does it really matter how I think, as long as I believe the right things?

About the Crucial Questions Series

How Should I Think? is part of the Crucial Questions series from Ligonier Ministries — a collection of short, accessible booklets by Dr. R.C. Sproul addressing the most important questions Christians face about their faith and life. Each booklet in the series is:

• Short and accessible — readable in a single sitting yet substantive enough to genuinely inform and challenge
• Biblically grounded — rooted in careful attention to the teaching of Scripture
• Practically applied — consistently connecting theological truth to real life decisions and situations
• Freely available — offered as a resource to the wider church in keeping with Ligonier’s commitment to making Reformed theology accessible to all

The entire Crucial Questions series can be accessed at Ligonier.org/freeCQ — making these booklets an outstanding and affordable resource for personal study, church distribution, and small group use.

These free resources are offered by special permission of Ligonier Ministries, the teaching fellowship founded by Dr. R.C. Sproul. All rights reserved. The entire Crucial Questions series can be viewed here: Ligonier.org/freeCQ