Dark Halls

“…And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.” –Matthew 15:14

Being in a room with the lights turned off can be an unnerving experience.  Even if you are somewhat familiar with the structure and arrangement of the room before the lights go out, your ability to navigate that room is severely impaired.  How many of us have stubbed our toes in houses we have lived in all our lives while walking down the hall to the bathroom at night?  Maybe it’s our own vanity, but how often have we been in situations like that where we decided to brave that dark hall instead of simply turning on the light switch?  In our minds we reason that we know what the hall looks like already and don’t need the assistance of any light.  Depending on the level of our self-assurance we either tip-toe through the hall or grope along the walls to reach our destination- but invariably we end up with a bruised toe at some point.

Sometimes as followers of Jesus it is easy to get caught up in intellectualism.  That is to say, we forget that the only reason we ever knew what the hall looked like was because the lights were turned on!  In our vanity, we begin to reason that somehow we came to understand the truth through the application of our own wisdom and understanding.  This is deeply unfortunate, because in so doing we have strayed from the very Source that gave us light to begin with.  Also instead of guiding those that are spiritually blind to the Light, we begin instead to offer our own reasoning pointing to the theoretical existence of Light.  Jesus said,  “I am the light of the world: he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” –John 8:12

I have often been amazed at the simplicity and purity of the faith of many in impoverished third world nations.  Miracles, signs, and wonders are not uncommon among many of these people – but here in America it is rare to see anything remotely supernatural.  Why should this be the case?  After all we have more knowledge of the truth, the scriptures and their history.  We can easily defend the historical veracity of scripture and the life of Christ.  We can easily set aside “oppositions of science, falsely so called.” – 1 Timothy 6:20  But for all of this knowledge of Christ, how close are we really to Him?  The poor in other countries may have very little scripture at all, very little knowledge of history, and not even able to appreciate science.  But what they do have is a real relationship with a very real God through Jesus.  Salvation has always been very simple, “…For whosoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.” – Romans 10:13

The Pharisees whom Jesus called ‘blind leaders of the blind’ were not unlike many of us in America today.  When it came to knowledge of the scriptures they were amazing – many having memorized the entire Torah.  When it came to outward forms of righteousness they were spotless, having reduced the way of righteousness to nearly a mathematical equation.  What they lacked however was enough to earn them the title of ‘blind’ by Jesus - a heart for God.  Preferring as it were to grope through the dark halls using their own wisdom and understanding instead of acknowledging their need for the Light, their actual relationship with God was absent.

As a follower of Christ you will find that there is no need to focus on the oppositions of darkness when you are walking in the Light.  Darkness has no ability to penetrate Light, but Light will always penetrate darkness.  The very best way for you to keep your faith burning bright in these dark times is to constantly focus on your Savior through prayer and meditation on His Word.  It is often tempting to rely on your own understanding or knowledge for the sake of ‘guiding others’- but simply turning on the Light switch is always the best solution!

Conflicting Revelation

“But strong meat belongs to them who are of full age, even those who by reason of use have exercised their senses to discern good and evil.” –Hebrews 5:14

The Apostle Paul, trained in the highest forms logic and rabbinical reasoning by Gamaliel, did not think much of our ability to comprehend truth through the intellect.  On the contrary Paul preached that spiritual truth could not be understood by human wisdom saying, “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” -1 Corinthians 1:21  If God chose to make salvation available to us through the exercise of our intellect, only the elite of this world would be heirs to salvation.  Instead of choosing the mind as the vehicle through which we believe, He chose the heart saying, “…For with the heart man believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” –Romans 10:10

For those whose faith is based in the intellect, spiritual truth will always be a stumbling block that prevents them from drawing closer to God.  Jesus told His disciples, “It is the spirit that quickens; the flesh profits nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” –John 6:63  Jesus chose to speak words that could not be understood by the mind alone, and those who tried to comprehend His words through their intellect left offended.  When Jesus spoke to the people saying, “Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you have no life in you…”, only those whose hearts were sensitive to truth remained.  Although the minds of the twelve disciples didn’t understand the words Jesus was speaking, their hearts resonated as Jesus spoke the words – and knew He was speaking the truth.  When Jesus asked them if they would also leave, Peter responded saying, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” –John 6:68

The moment we surrender our lives to Christ, scripture tells us that God sends the Spirit of His son into our hearts crying Abba, Father. –Galatians 4:6  When God sends His Spirit into our hearts, His Spirit within us becomes the vehicle through which we can understand spiritual things.  Without the Holy Spirit it is impossible to understand spiritual things, as Paul wrote “…But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”-1 Cor. 2:14 Instead God has given us the Holy Spirit so “that we might freely know the things that are given to us of God.”-1 Cor. 2:12  As followers of Christ the tool that God has given us to discern truth is the Holy Spirit, and not our minds.

God has commanded us to love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength, and therefore He cares about our ability to understand Truth with our minds!  However, Truth is always first understood by our spirit through the Holy Spirit, and then God will bring understanding to our minds.  If we try to understand with our minds first we are cutting out the work of the Holy Spirit, and like those disciples who left Jesus we will be offended and fall into error.  As you read through God’s Word you will encounter many Truth’s that seem paradoxical or irreconcilable by the mind, and yet your spirit will know that they are all true.  Jesus told us through John’s Revelation, “He that has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.” –Revelation 3:22  Most everyone has physical ears to hear, but Jesus was talking about ears that were spiritually receptive to the Truth.

Oftentimes God gives different members of the church revelations that on the surface appear to be in conflict.  Those who have received those revelations will consequently preach what they have heard and know to be true by the Spirit. Like the Apostle Paul’s revelation of grace by faith and the Apostle St. James revelation on faith and works, it is easy to wrestle with different revelations and even break into factions based on whose revelation our minds can understand the most.  But those who rely on the Holy Spirit will know that both are true before they can articulate why.  As the Apostle Paul counseled Timothy, “…Consider what I say; and the Lord give you understanding in all things.” – 2 Timothy 2:7  The very most important thing is that as members of Christ we all “stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.” –Philippians 1:27