Our memory verse this week comes in the middle of an amazing paragraph in 1 Corinthians 2. Verses 6-16 build up the case that because we have the spirit of God living in us that we can understand the mind of Christ and understand the things of the spirit. This is a wonderful promise!
I have a running list of questions that I’d really like God to answer ranging from somewhat absurd – “Why did you create mosquitoes?” or “What is the purpose of cedar allergies?” – to more theological as – “Why did you make the free will / predestination topic so confusing?” My spouse always has to ask “Why?” Always. Sometimes you can’t get anything done until they understand what is going on. I tell myself that I’ll ask God my long list of questions when I get to heaven, but I’m sure that when I actually come into his presence, I will forget all about my questions and all the whys will stop as I marvel at His glory.
Let’s look at this passage again. God isn’t telling us that we will be a walking encyclopedia or that we will know all the answers on Trivial Pursuit. He promises that the Spirit in us will help us search out and understand what God has freely given us. We can ask him the deep questions of our hearts and he will answer them. (Though he may not give us the answer we want.) We can pester him with all the whys in the world and the Spirit will help us. He isn’t afraid or bored with our questions. He wants to go on a journey of understanding with us. He will reveal to us the wisdom that has been a hidden mystery (the mystery of Jesus’ sacrifice).
We get the honor of being on this side of the cross. We get to look at what happened in the biblical narrative with 20/20 hindsight. Those poor disciples walked with the savior of the world but didn’t ‘get it’ until later. Then they changed the world. We get to watch prophesied world events unfolding while holding on to the promises of God. We get to live each day as the temple of the Holy Spirit.
The challenge today is that we might understand. Let us listen to the spirit, let us have the mind of Christ, let us walk in the ways he asks us to! Thank you father for the Holy Spirit.
