S66P1 – The Christ-like mind: understands the Spirit
1 Cor. 2:14-16
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
We were very close friends in college but had not spoken in a number of years. I found her again on social media, and our excitement was mutual. Our rekindled friendship, however, would not last long. It was during our first telephone call that I began to tell her of the changes in my life brought on by my newfound faith. She initially seemed happy that I had something to believe in, but that changed once I explained how that faith changed my views on certain sinful behaviors. I had been excited to tell her of these changes and how I now live my life, but she took these words as self-righteous judgement and hatred. Being a person of the world, she could not accept the truth of God’s word which I tried to share with her as anything but offense.
The funny thing is that I spent many years in her very position. I remember visiting a number of churches over the years during adolescence and my early twenties. Whether it was a wedding or a mass to which I accompanied a friend, every experience had one thing in common: I could not accept fundamental spiritual truths which were presented to me. The reason is that the things of the Spirit of God were in conflict with what I desired my life to be. I could not understand God’s truth because I could not reconcile it with mine, and I surely was not humble enough to consider that perhaps I was wrong. I later would come to understand and accept the things of God, but it first required that I gain the mind of Christ.
It should come to us as no surprise when our acquaintances who are in the world do not understand when we speak of the things of the Spirit. It is as if we are speaking a completely different language. The system and values of the world’s kingdoms are in direct contrast to those of God’s heavenly kingdom. The citizens of the world operate differently than the citizens of heaven, and that includes the operations of the mind. If we have difficulty accepting any true Godly teaching, let us survey whether we are thinking with the mind of Christ available and at work inside us. Father, thank You for giving us the mind of Christ to understand and accept that which your Spirit teaches us.