The Spirit

It's human nature, or at least mine, to look at cop-outs. One cop-out I use is the old "how do I really know what God wants" excuse.

In a way it's natural, because sometimes it seems like I just can't get things figured out. I know what I should do, but it seems so hard; it doesn't seem practical or realistic.

From what I read in 1 Cor 2 this morning, there's a good reason for that. The simple fact that I feel that way should tell me everything I need to know. Paul wrote (14), "The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned."

What Paul is saying is that when following God doesn't seem to make sense, it's because I'm thinking like someone who never met Jesus. God's language is foreign to us outside of God; the closer we stay to Him, the better we understand.

The Holy Spirit is our advisor -- it's His job to help us get it. He softens us up, makes us want the right things, helps us see what's wrong about the rest.

So when the Bible leaves me cold, when my church friends seem less interesting than my worldly ones, when things like "turn the other cheek" and "go the second mile" and "give him your coat also" seem like utter stupidity, that's because I stopped listening to the Spirit. When getting back at people and piling up more money and satisfying my own appetites seem like good priorities, it's because I got too far away from God.

I can say it's hard to know His will, but for spiritually-sensitive people, it isn't. And you only become spiritually-sensitive by really getting to know God.