“For the foolishness of God
is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's
strength.” -
1 Corinthians 1:25
When people attempt to
understand the things of the Spirit with their human mind, they have no
success. People without God’s Spirit dwelling within them do not accept the
Truth that comes from God, because it sounds foolish to them. They cannot
understand God’s Truths, because it is spiritually discerned and cannot be
received by an unregenerate mind (1 Corinthians 2:14). Unbelievers look at the various points of the
Gospel and ridicule it as ludicrous. It makes no sense to them at all. They
think they are wise, but the Bible calls them fools (Psalm
14:1, 53:1).
These atheistic people divide
the world, because they follow mere natural instincts and they do not have the
Spirit of God within them (Jude 1:19).
They say that if there is a God, He is an omnipotent being who is playing a
game with humanity through an elaborate scheme, which to them does not make any
sense at all. God designed the message of the cross this way. It is foolishness
to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of
God (1 Corinthians 1:18). What they
fail to take into consideration is that their spirit is dead in sin. They
cannot possibly understand the Gospel, because they cannot see it from its
spiritual perspective. They are not willing to surrender their life to God.
They live by a worldly
philosophy derived from a perception without Christ dwelling within them.
Therefore, they cannot receive Jesus, because they are not looking for Him and
they do not recognize Him or His work in the world. Only Born Again Believers
know Him, because He lives in us through His resurrection from the dead and
ascension into Heaven (John 14:7).
We actually preach Christ crucified, and this is a stumbling block to Jews, as
well as to every other culture, which foolishly cling to unbelief (1
Corinthians 1:23).
The Holy Spirit clearly states
that even some people who were taught the Truth will abandon their beliefs and
follow deceiving spirits (1 John 5:19).
They consider the Gospel to be idiotic, and they are too smart to waste time
with religion. These unbelievers are controlled by their sinful, unconverted
nature. They do not have the Spirit of Christ, because they have not repented
of their sins and they do not believe in Christ as their Savior. They do not
belong to Christ. Their thinking does not come from heaven. It is secular,
unspiritual and from the devil (James 3:15).
God is pleased through the
foolishness of the Gospel of Christ to save those who choose to believe (1
Corinthians 1:21). We belong to Christ
and live by His Spirit, because the Spirit of God lives in us (Romans
8:9). The Spirit of Truth came into the
world at Pentecost, and He guides us into all truth even now. The Spirit will
not speak about Himself, but He speaks only what He hears from the Father, and
He even tells us about what is yet to come (John 16:13). Our Heavenly Father's will is that everyone who
looks to the Son and believes in Him for salvation shall have eternal life. He
will raise us all up at the last day to live with Him in the New Heaven and the
New Earth for eternity (John 6:40; Revelation 21:1). Unfortunately, unbelievers condemn themselves to
spend eternity in the torments of hell (John 3:18).
Prayer:
Father God, those who obey
Your commands live in You, and You live in them. And this is how we know that
You live in us: We know it by the Spirit, which You gave us (1 John
3:24; John 8:47). We are from You, and
whoever knows You will listen to Your Gospel message and repent and be saved.
Whoever is not from You will not listen to us and will hard-heartedly reject
Your Truth and believe Satan’s lie instead (1 John 4:6). We offer a prayer right now for our friends,
relatives, associates and neighbors to come to a saving knowledge of Your
existence and to personally experience Your love for them through Jesus Christ.
Thought for the Day:
“The
Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow
deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.” - 1 Timothy 4:1
