Daily Devotions – The Mind of Christ

Daily Devotions – The Mind of Christ

Photo by Gift Habeshaw on Unsplash

 

Click this link to hear an audio version of the below text narrated by SOTH member Jerry Rhinehart:

 

1 Corinthians 2 (NIV)
2 And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.

God’s Wisdom Revealed by the Spirit
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.

 

The Corinthians were measuring truth and success by how powerful, influential, and articulate someone was. How is that idea communicated today?

Lord, The world today looks at the exterior shell of people to decide if they are worth being listened to or not. If you look good, have the right friends, say the things the world wants to hear, and speak eloquently, then you are in. Lord, You do not look at the outside, but You see people’s hearts. There are many examples of leaders that You chose to do Your work who did not stand up to the expectations of the world. You chose David, a young boy over the tall and powerful Saul. You called Moses to speak to Pharaoh even though he had a speech impediment. You used lowly fishermen, a prostitute, and a hated tax collector to spread the gospel. You continue to use broken people who may not measure up to the world’s standards but submit themselves to Your will. You have granted us Your Spirit to give us the Mind of Christ. That’s why we don’t think the same way that the people of this world think. That’s also why we can recognize the blessings that You have given us. Powerful, influential, and articulate people are self-confident and depend on themselves and their own abilities. We depend on You. Those who are the most powerful in getting work done for Your cause humble themselves to allow Your Spirit into their hearts. What is received from Your Spirit is not of this world but from You. Lord, thank you for today’s leaders who may not be articulate or try to please the world but work hard to do the right things, who listen to You and fight for Your causes. Help me be humble enough to not rely on my own abilities, but to submit to Your power through the Holy Spirit to speak and respond to Your will even if it is not popular with the world. Amen