Part 2: LEARNING HOW TO THINK - LEARNING HOW TO READ
None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. Romans 3:10-11
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. 1 Corinthians 2:14
Last week we saw how none of us could understand the beauty of God and His ways without Him making us new.
Here is something else I’ve been thinking about in reflection on these verses:
If I didn’t even know how to think before God made me new, why do I do so much thinking without Him?
Why do I try to solve problems on my own first? Why do I seek other resources to help my understanding before I seek Him in prayer or in His word?
Before you met Jesus, you could not understand Him and His ways. Now that you have met Him a miracle has happened. Maybe you know about the miracle of salvation. But what about the miracle of transformation? Do you know your mind has been transformed? What about the miracle of illumination?
His word says we are blinded from seeing the light of the gospel until God shines “in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6). That’s the miracle of illumination.
At first, it happens when your mind is transformed and your eyes illumined; when you understand and respond to the message of Jesus. But now this miracle of illumination can happen daily…
If we let it.
Every time a believer picks up His book, God works a new miracle of illumination by shining a light of understanding on the page. This is a beautiful promise from scripture, and it's a promise for everyone who has responded to the call of the gospel and given their life to Christ. It's a promise that the Spirit will miraculously illumine the scriptures for you. A promise that God miraculously speaks today through the same words He miraculously spoke through thousands of years ago.
But.
Every time you leave the book on the shelf you leave a miracle on the table.
So here we are just days after gathering together to celebrate the empty tomb. This is a time for us to reflect on Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and the empty tomb we left behind in final proof of His victory over sin, death, and our greatest enemy.
As you reflect, will you embrace the miracle?
Will you gaze again at the beauty of the Son of God who did not leave us alone in our suffering but descended to become like us in human flesh so that He could raise us to new life with Him?
And will you gaze into the beauty of the miracle of the transformed life? The beauty that in Him you are no longer a slave to sin? The beauty that in Him you are made wonderfully new?
And as you’re gazing on this beauty, will you take the time to pick up the miraculous book we all have?
Or will you keep solving your problems with your own understanding?
I think one of the reasons I try to solve my problems on my own, without His miraculous words, is because sometimes His word is hard to swallow. And I don’t just mean a little hard. It's excruciating.
And shouldn’t this make sense? If God is conforming me into the image of His son, shouldn’t I expect that ongoing process to be a little uncomfortable?
Come back next week and I’ll share more about what happens when we don’t like what God’s word says...