So We Can Know

It was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us. 1 Corinthians 2:10-12

EARLIER PAUL SPOKE about “the kind of wisdom that belongs to this world or to the rulers of this world” (verse 6). Our first thought may be that he was talking about those with political or governmental power. But Paul was referring to the thought leaders of his day, the people with influence on the culture. These were people who had a huge hole in their grasp of what was ultimately true and important. These “rulers of the world” saw what happened at the cross as weak and ineffective, even ridiculous and despicable. They just didn’t get it. Yet they kept talking.

Certainly, if we were looking to identify the “rulers of the world” today, those who significantly influence the way people think, we would point to afternoon television gurus, political talk-show hosts, popular bloggers and columnists, entertainers and athletes. These voices dominate the conversation in our culture, sometimes in 140 characters.

But this is not the wisdom we want our children to absorb. These are not the voices we want our children to listen to. The “wisdom that belongs to this world” simply can’t help them understand “the mystery of God —his plan that was previously hidden, even though he made it for our ultimate glory before the world began” (verses 6-7). This is what they need most to know, but they need more than simply the facts about God’s plan of redemption through Christ. They need another dimension of revelation that takes place in their very spirits. They need God’s Spirit, not the world’s spirit, to impress upon them the wisdom of God’s plan and why it’s essential for an abundant life. Only God’s Spirit can enable our children to “know the wonderful things God has freely given us” (verse 12).

Lord, the temptation to try to be the Spirit in ________’s life is strong. I find myself always listening for a voice that can speak your truth to ________ in a way that ________ will hear and receive. But there is only one way ________ will come to know all you have freely given us in Christ, and that’s as you reveal these wonderful things by your Spirit.