1 Corinthians 2:1-12 (TNIV)
1 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.
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—
these things God has prepared for those who love him” —
10 for God has revealed them 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 that person’s own spirit within? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.
Reflection:
For every locked door, there is one key with perfectly matched grooves and cuts that will open it up to reveal what lies ahead. It does not matter how similar another key looks, but if it is not an exact fit, it will not unlock the door no matter how often it is tried. In the same way, the Holy Spirit is the One who unlocks the deep things of God so that we are able to receive and then proclaim the great news of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Not through human wisdom or eloquent persuasion, and never through physical strength or threatening duress, but with the revelation through the Holy Spirit can we see, hear and conceive of the great things that God has prepared for those who love Him. Without the enabling presence of the Holy Spirit and the resurrection power of the gospel of grace, we are left only with shallow eloquence and unsubstantiated puffery that come to nothing. But with mighty demonstrations of the Spirit’s power within our grasp and with unwavering faith resting on the Spirit’s wisdom, we can minister to those whom God has already prepared with increasing power and love. There is nothing that can hold us back.
Responding to the Transmitted Message:
Worldly wisdom works for things of the world, but Spirit’s wisdom works for things of God and not any other way. Rather than focusing on our own inadequacies and fears, or trying to figure out how to over come them, we can rely on the heart-changing power of the Holy Spirit as we proclaim the gospel of grace. Let us take a moment and pray for greater reliance and leading of the Holy Spirit. Ask for increasing desires and greater willingness to minister and love.
