November 1st, 2014
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

Having the Mind of Christ

Please see the links to our EXTRA Bible Study notes at the bottom of the page.

Opening Prayer

Lord, I look at the world and see only my own shadow. Blow Your Spirit upon me that I might begin to see the world with a new heart.

Read 1 Corinthians 2:6-16

[6] We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. [7] No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. [8] None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. [9] However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”- the things God has prepared for those who love him- [10] these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. [11] For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. [12] What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. [13] This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. [14] The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. [15] The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, [16] for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Meditate

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” (Prov. 9:10).

Think Further

The cross swings like a wrecking ball through the landscape of human pride (1:29), straight into the wisdom of this world (1:27). There it lies dismantled in the dust on Calvary. But this does not mean that we grow up “wisdom-less,” a footslogging journey of duty and rules. No. Paul says there is now a new wisdom (sophia), a transformed wisdom, secret and hidden which begins to invade us (6). This new wisdom flings us out into new depths and vistas and a life of awe-struck exploration (Eph. 4:18). When the cross of Christ penetrates us (in the words of Hamlet to Horatio) we learn by the Spirit “…there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

And what is the golden key to this new wisdom? Not more sophistication or power or control or conquest; it is love (2:9): love which wakes in fresh adoration when it really sees the crucified Lord of glory. This wisdom is not–like so much of our culture–detached, overly-careful, mildly cynical. It exists only through the surrender to the love of Jesus. “Divine gracious love inspires grateful human love” (Thomas Cranmer). Here we begin to take on Christ’s eyes and imagination and heart. The Spirit opens us up to see what only the Spirit can give (12).

And how do we get in on the secret wisdom from beyond the walls of this world? First to last, it is the Spirit who makes it happen. Apart from the Spirit we cannot discern one iota of spiritual reality. In our natural state, the Lord of glory comes and we are lost in a coal mine (14). Praise be to God, the Spirit inflames us to burn for realities beyond our self-survival.

Apply

Take some time with two questions: What do you most love about Jesus? What are you coming to love about Jesus?

Closing prayer

Lord God, widen my heart by Your Spirit that I might begin to sense the magnitude of Your love. Grant me new wisdom to live today from the treasures of that love.

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