by R. Herbert | Feb 4, 2015 | Knowledge & Wisdom
You may have known people who got offended at the concept Christians teach – that an individual’s mind must be “opened” to see the truth. To many it sounds almost insulting that they would not be “intelligent enough” to fully understand Christian belief. Nevertheless, the Bible does teach that no matter how intelligent we may be, we cannot understand spiritual things unless God “opens our mind.”
The ancient biblical writers did not talk about opening the “mind,” of course, as that is a modern concept. Instead, writers in both the Old Testament and New Testament used the expression to “open the eyes,” meaning the same thing. In fact, antiquated as it might seem, the concept works well because our eyes are already open and yet need to be “opened” – just as people’s minds can be functional, yet may need to be opened spiritually, too. That is why Jesus said: “I praise you, Father… because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children” (Matthew 11:25; see also Matthew 13:13-14).
That is why the work of the coming messiah was foretold in just these terms by the prophet Isaiah: “Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped” (Isaiah 35:5); “… to open eyes that are blind … to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness” (Isaiah 42:7). When Christ commissioned Saul – the apostle Paul – it was to do the same work: “I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me” (Acts 26:17-19).
So the opening of the human mind to fully perceive and understand spiritual things requires God’s help. We may know this, but the understanding calls for the use of wisdom in several areas of the Christian life. First, in sharing our faith we cannot expect people to understand the truth of God’s word unless God is opening their minds to see it. That is something to be kept in mind at all times. Trying to “help” or force people to understand spiritual realities cannot work unless God is already calling.
Second, we should remember that people’s eyes are not usually “opened” all the way at one moment in time. God is gracious in revealing to us what we can handle before helping us to move to the next level of understanding and responsibility. We should always remember to have the same patience with those we aspire to help in the knowledge of the truth.
Finally, we must constantly remind ourselves that the fact spiritual eyes are opened slowly and not all at once is something we must apply to ourselves daily. It is always easy to presume – at every stage along the way – that we know or understand “most things.” But the truth is, the further we progress along the road of Christian growth, the more we become aware that we still have so much more to learn, so much more to understand. That is why David prayed – as we should, too – “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law” (Psalm 119:18). It’s a prayer we never outgrow.
by Staff | Feb 1, 2015 | Updates
Pastor and writer Brad C. Shockley is one of our favorite newer Christian bloggers. His new
blog hasn’t been active very long, but he is already putting up some fine material.
We especially like a couple of Brad’s latest posts and he has kindly given permission for us to reproduce them on our sites. Today we have uploaded “The six word memoir of Jesus Christ” which he published on January 28, and we are also running another of Brad’s posts on our sister site today at
LivingWithFaith.org. We think you will like them.
by Brad Shockley | Feb 1, 2015 | The Life of Jesus
By Brad C. Shockley
Legend has it that Ernest Hemingway was once challenged by his peers to write someone’s story in just six words. As they watched, he scribbled on a napkin “For sale. Baby Shoes. Never worn.” They were stunned. Impressive whether true or not.
Inspired by the legend, in 2006 a magazine asked its readers to write their own six-word memoirs. They sent them in by the thousands. Those submissions became the best selling book Not Quite What I was Planning. And they keep coming in via http://www.sixwordmemoirs.com/ .
Here are a few favorites…
- I ate my weight in sweets.
- Break bricks with head. Take aspirin.
- Lost my dog. Lost my wife.
- Maybe I’m on the wrong meds.
- Spending birthday with mom. Send vodka.
And the more serious…
- Cursed with cancer. Blessed with friends.
- I’ll cry if I want to.
- Nothing on earth is like death.
It’s hard to believe so much can be communicated in so few words, but somehow it works. Hemingway wasn’t the first to achieve this, though. Two thousand years ago a doctor named Luke summed up the life of Jesus in just as few words:
“In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach,” (Acts 1:1, ESV)
“Jesus began to do and teach,” the six word memoir of Jesus Christ, sums up perfectly what He was about. And from these six simple words we learn the importance of both doing and teaching. Most churches, denominations, and even Christians major in one or the other but not both.
Some invest in the doing side of faith and are into ministry and community. They have food pantries and meals-on-wheels programs and can organize an army to tackle a neighborhood clean up project overnight, which is awesome. But when it comes to teaching, to confronting people with the truths Jesus preached, crickets are heard chirping. Others are all about the “Word.” They preach sound doctrine and go door-to-door asking people if they died right then do they know for certain they’d go to heaven, but they haven’t invested a dollar or a day in meeting their community’s needs. It’s not one or the other, it’s both.
We discover something else in this hexad. It’s no accident “do” precedes “teach.” Jesus first addressed physical brokenness so He could tackle the infinitely greater problem, spiritual brokenness. And spiritual brokenness is healed through the truths Jesus taught about why we’re broken and how its remedy comes only through a personal relationship with Him. It’s so cliche but true, people don’t care what you know until they know how much you care.
Christians and churches will always be known for what they do far more than what they teach. The early church was famous for its radical belief in the resurrection of Jesus (teaching), but it was their demonstrated love for people that stunned the world and made them listen (doing).
What Jesus began to do and teach is ongoing through His followers today. Let’s make sure we get it right and live out those six words to the fullest.
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