Thoughts from 1st Corinthians

Thursday, February 15, 2007

1^st Corinthians 2:6-16

⁶We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. ⁷No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. ⁸None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. ⁹However, as it is written:
"No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him"^[a]— ¹⁰but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. ¹¹For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. ¹²We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. ¹³This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.^{[b] 14}The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. ¹⁵The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment:
¹⁶"For who has known the mind of the Lord
that he may instruct him?"^[c] But we have the mind of Christ.

The mature begin to understand the message from God. What is this message? Paul says that it is a “secret wisdom”. But it is a secret that has been revealed in the person of the Holy Spirit. What the Holy Spirit reveals to us is this wisdom that sees things from God’s perspective. What the world calls foolish—is not foolish to God, but he takes the foolish things to shame the wise. But this wisdom is not discovered in my learning or great discernment, it is revealed when I humbly and submissively put myself into the presence of God. Kind of goes back to that thought from yesterday when Paul “resolved to know nothing except Jesus Christ and him crucified”.

We have become professionals. Even as spiritual leaders, we are now considered professional pastors or clergy. But as JB Phillips translates in 2:13, “It is these things that we talk about, not using the expressions of the human intellect, but those which the Holy Spirit teaches us, explaining spiritual things to those who are spiritual.”

What I need is a deeper relationship with God. I need my spiritual senses honed sharp to the moving of the Holy Spirit. Suddenly this thought begins to change everything, because nothing becomes outside the possibilities of God. In fact, the more impossible things may seem, the more possible they become in Christ. This message is only understood by the “mature”. It is almost a secret message, because unspiritual people don’t understand spiritual things. But I am afraid most of us are unspiritual far too often. We are so bound by the realities of the world around us that we look at life through eyes that are earthly. I want to hear the heart of God.

Lord keep me at your feet. Keep my heart hungry for You. Help me to see beyond present circumstances and reality and let me hear your Spirit who understands your “deep thoughts.”