In Pursuit Of God: It Doesn’t Always Make Sense To Us
1 Corinthians 1:20-31 (Amplified Bible)
20Where is the wise man (the philosopher)? Where is the scribe (the scholar)? Where is the investigator (the logician, the debater) of this present time and age? Has not God shown up the nonsense and the folly of this world's wisdom? 21For when the world with all its earthly wisdom failed to perceive and recognize and know God by means of its own philosophy, God in His wisdom was pleased through the foolishness of preaching [salvation, procured by Christ and to be had through Him], to save those who believed (who clung to and trusted in and relied on Him). 22For while Jews [demandingly] ask for signs and miracles and Greeks pursue philosophy and wisdom, 23We preach Christ (the Messiah) crucified, [preaching which] to the Jews is a scandal and an offensive stumbling block [that springs a snare or trap], and to the Gentiles it is absurd and utterly unphilosophical nonsense. 24But to those who are called, whether Jew or Greek (Gentile), Christ [is] the Power of God and the Wisdom of God. 25[This is] because the foolish thing [that has its source in] God is wiser than men, and the weak thing [that springs] from God is stronger than men. 26For [simply] consider your own call, brethren; not many [of you were considered to be] wise according to human estimates and standards, not many influential and powerful, not many of high and noble birth. 27[No] for God selected (deliberately chose) what in the world is foolish to put the wise to shame, and what the world calls weak to put the strong to shame. 28And God also selected (deliberately chose) what in the world is lowborn and insignificant and branded and treated with contempt, even the things that are nothing, that He might depose and bring to nothing the things that are 29So that no mortal man should [have pretense for glorying and] boast in the presence of God. 30But it is from Him that you have your life in Christ Jesus, Whom God made our Wisdom from God, [revealed to us a knowledge of the divine plan of salvation previously hidden, manifesting itself as] our Righteousness [thus making us upright and putting us in right standing with God], and our Consecration [making us pure and holy], and our Redemption [providing our ransom from eternal penalty for sin]. 31So then, as it is written, Let him who boasts and proudly rejoices and glories, boast and proudly rejoice and glory in the Lord.
I have a friend that is very logical. They utilize the things read, heard and self-assessment and evaluation to assess and to make decisions. Even when it comes to understanding the things of God it is through the vehicle of their mind, human wisdom, understanding and knowledge that they grasp God. We debate about things because I have understood for a while that understanding God and His ways rarely makes sense to us, nor can they be logically understood, especially by the mind, the flesh and human reasoning. To try to pursue God and understand all that He is will not always make sense and will never make sense in the state of mind that we find ourselves in, without renewal, and illumination through the Holy Spirit.
To truly understand God, human thinking seldom plays a part. To really see God for whom he is, and understand Him, the Holy Spirit must be present. To understand something like how Mary a virgin could become pregnant by the Holy Spirit, human reasoning would say that is impossible. To understand that Jesus was fully man and fully God is another concept that the human mind would reject because it makes little to no sense, in the realm in which we live. Trying to understand God through our limited capacity of a human being is like putting God in a box. It is limiting His abilities because we lack the understanding to think outside of that box. When we do not allow God to deal with our heart and we do not pursue, press in and know Him by heart we lose the truth and the full definition of who he is and we can become fixated on one element of His command, His word or His character. We lose the true essence and totality of who God is, and what the work of Christ was and is all about.
It is often hard to grasp God if we don’t understand the transforming work begins in the heart and in the mind. If we never understand that God is not a man, nor is He the son of man, we are pursuing someone that now looks like us and acts likes us. The Holy Spirit allows us to move by faith and not by sight. To embrace precepts and the concepts of God, even when we do not fully understand it by human wisdom and logic, is to submit our whole selves to God. It is to understand that we can never understand the supernatural through natural means. God will take the most unlikely of situations, the least in the eyes of man and the unthinkable to more in and to make Himself know. Will we allow ourselves to be confined to this world, its wisdom and the trend of thought that comes from human reasoning? I hope you will choose as EnVouge sang some years back, “To free your mind so the rest can follow!”
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