Tuesday, June 29, 2010

God's Power; Not Human Wisdom

Have you ever tried to explain some truth of God's Word to someone who is not a Christian?  It's impossible isn't it?  You could sit there and give them every plausible peice of wisdom you have in order to try and persuade them to believe you but it will not happen unless the Spirit of God opens their heart and mind to understand the things of God.  I Corinthians 2:14 says, "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."  It's impossible to use human wisdom to teach things which come from above.

This is the reason that Paul says that he did not originally come to the Corinthians with "lofty speech or wisdom." (I Cor. 2:1).  Instead he spoke to them "in demonstration of the Spirit and of power." (I Cor. 2:4)  "Why?" you may ask, so that their "faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God."  Paul knew that it was better for them to be convinced by the Holy Spirit and God's power than it was forthem to be convinced by man's wisdom.  He did cme in giving a beautiful speech, using words and phrases that no one could understand, he spoke to them and let the Holy Spirit and God's power do the rest.  

I think it is important that we learn from this example of Paul.  If we talk to people using the knowledge of man, trying to convince them that they need to become a Christian in some way or another, it more than likely will not work, and if by chance it does, where will there hope lie, in the wisdom of men, or in the power of God?  

It's easy together frustrated when talking to those who are not spiritually minded about the things of God, especially, when you care about them, or think they already ought to know the things you are talking to them about, but we must, by the power of God, remember that it is He who will ultimately do the convincing and we just continue to share as Paul did, "demonstration of the Spirit and of power." (I Cor. 2:4)  

2 comments:

  1. Yeah...but you still need to be engaged in breaking down the opposing person's worldview. Being engaged in breaking down their worldview involves being able to engage in a dialogue with them that involves some intelligence. It seems like you're suggesting we don't need to engage with intellectuals.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm sorry, I'm not quite sure what you mean by "breaking down their worldview."

    ReplyDelete