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. No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 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— these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 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. 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. 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.
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. The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
I Corinthians 2:6-16
As followers of Jesus, our lives are shrouded with mystery. We work for a boss we cannot see who oversees a realm that is not of this world. We speak with words that make no apparent sense and are convinced of facts for which there is no proof. We do battle with an enemy the world denies and are paid with treasures we may not receive in this life.
We trust that the Holy Spirit knows the mind of God and will not lead us astray, but we are filled with uncertainty about what voice is His and what voice is the world and what voice is our own mind. Our hearts long to serve God, but our spirits feel inept at unraveling the mystery of His thoughts.
To prevent discouragement, we must embrace the mystery wholeheartedly. It is the discovery of the multiple facets of the mystery that brings excitement and anticipation to the Christian walk – opening the Scriptures without knowing what God will say, ministering without fully knowing the eternal results, sharing our faith not knowing the response.
Confidence comes when we rest in the covenant we have with God, when we trust that He is at work in our lives even when we cannot recognize it. Faith assures us that, despite our doubts, we have the mind of Christ.
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