Thinking- too much or too little?

I have been reading "Think" by John Piper the past few weeks and am only a third of the way through but have been deeply encouraged and challenged already. He is examining the role of thinking in a believer's life, how much we should be doing, and is it necessary in our pursuit of God.

Sometimes thinking seems too hard about a particular subject so I just shut my mind off or turn it onto something else. Other times thinking comes quite easily and questions are shooting off in my mind. I believe that God created us with minds, somewhat intelligent minds, and that they shouldn't sit there in neutral all our lives. I am definitely not a genius, nor even close to being one, but there are times when I can't get enough of thinking. But how much is too little and how much is too much? I think there is a healthy balance that is needed or you can become a foolish simpleton or a overbearing, arrogant analyzer.

Here are some quotes from "Think" :

"This book is a plea to embrace serious thinking as a means of loving God and people. It is a plea to reject either-or thinking when it comes to head and heart, thinking and feeling, reason and faith, theology and doxology, mental labor and a ministry of love.
It is a plea to see thinking as a necessary, God-ordained means of knowing God." (p.15)

"Thinking is not an end in itself. Nothing but God himself is finally an end in itself. Thinking is not the goal of life. Thinking, like non-thinking, can be the ground for boasting. Thinking, without prayer, without the Holy Spirit, without obedience, without love, will puff up and destroy. (1Cor. 8:1) But thinking under the mighty hand of God, thinking soaked in prayer, thinking carried by the Holy Spirit, thinking tethered to the Bible, thinking in pursuit of more reasons to praise and proclaim the glories of God, thinking in the service of love-- such thinking is indispensible in a life of fullest praise to God." (p. 27)

"2 Timothy 2:7, where Paul says to Timothy, "Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything." The command is that he think, consider, use his mind to try to understand what he means. And the reason Paul gives for this thinking is this, "For the Lord will give you understanding." Paul does not put these in tension: thinking on the one side and receiving the gift of understanding from God on the one side. They go together. Thinking is essential on the path to understanding. But understanding is a gift of God." (p.30)