Instructed by God

1 Cor 2:14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. 16 For "who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?" But we have the mind of Christ.

There is little doubt about whose mind you may desire to have if only you could…right?

Not many of us, (as admirable as our sense of our own intelligence may be,) would desire to keep the limited, finite perspective we have instead of the awesome, infinite, graceful, Creator-mind offered to us by God.

No. Wait a minute. That statement is not true. It seems MOST people would rather keep their own cramped little perspective of life rather than the expansive, loving, wonderful perspective offered by God.

Why is that? Why would anyone turn down the opportunity to have God’s perspective of life?

The answer is: these things are “spiritually discerned.” (You have no idea until you have an idea, in other words. You cannot perceive God apart from the Spirit of God, Who is God.)

Does this sound like circular reasoning?

Here’s the thing – and it’s a big one. You have to change your mind about God in order to perceive God. Unless and until you do, your idea about God will always be the same vague ego-centric idea of God the rest of the world has. Simply put, you are worldly until you make the decision not to be. God extends the grace to you to allow you to make that decision, and He chooses not to violate what you decide.

I am worldly until I choose not to be? Yes. And in that worldly condition, you have no idea about God; because you do not have the Spirit of God Who knows the mind of God. In that worldly condition, you reject God, because all of His ways are “foolishness” to you because you do not understand them because you cannot understand them. Your wisdom is only worldly.

But God loves you so much He demonstrates His love for you. And if you will change your mind and receive the love He freely offers, then He will come into your heart and you will receive not just the love of Christ, but the mind of Christ as well. You will never know this until you know this.

- Pastor Bill