When I was a much younger Christian, v15 confused me. Here it is in theLSB, “Now the spiritual man discerns all things, but he is discerned by no one.” What does that mean? The regenerate are able to discern and examine all things in the wisdom and knowledge of God because that is part of “spiritually discerning” everything. It is the second part of the sentence that confused me. Obviously, unbelievers are able to discern or see or recognize Christian’s faults and shortcomings. However, they are not able to evaluate their true nature as spiritual people because they are not given that as the regenerate have been.

13 Who has encompassed the Spirit of Yahweh,Or as His counselor has informed Him? Isaiah 40:13 (LSB)
When we observe Christian leaders operate according to the world’s standards and methods with pastors taking on roles other than shepherd of the sheep then responding to righteous criticism with further deception, what we are actually witnessing are professing Christians not walking within the wisdom that is available to all true believers via the Mind of Christ. This same situation is seen in all who have been deceived by and drawn into the “Innovation Cult” as well. That would include those proponents of easy-believism in all its forms. We see it in “church organizations” that are built around a personality rather than following a shepherd of the sheep who is obediently following the Lord as he should. When a Christian leader becomes the focus rather than Christ in a ministry then we see this idolatry begin to take shape. How often do we see one of these personalities build up a large church then when he moves on to the next church the one he built just falls apart? This should not be and this is indicative of a form of Christianity that is built around this personality cultic focus rather than around following Christ.
When a church doesn’t seem to be growing fast enough then the leadership changes to a seeker-sensitive or “missional” focus then we know that that church may indeed grow, but that growth will be the fruit of the “Innovation Cult” and not of the Holy Spirit growing a Church. It is manmade growth grounded in the fleshly ways of the world and produces “professing Christians” who are biblically and doctrinally ignorant. They are the simply religious. When we point out these things to the apologists for this sort of thing, the push back is usually hateful and sarcastic with an emphasis on us being legalistic, old-fashioned, and stuck in the past. What should our response be to that? However we respond, it must be within the wisdom from the Holy Spirit that is manifest in the Mind of Christ.
14 But a natural man does not accept the depths of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually examined. 15 But he who is spiritual examines all things, yet he himself is examined by no one. 16 For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL DIRECT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:14-16 (LSB)
Read More
Related Posts:

Truly, our children are an undeserved gift from God. God could have chosen others to become parents of your children. Instead, God chose you to be a parent of your children. Let us then thank and praise God for our children. May we never regard them as a burden but as a blessing from God—from whom all blessings flow. And may God grant us grace, as we train up our children in the way they should go, so that when they are old they will not depart from it (Prov. 22:6). 

I cannot recall how many times I met people who honestly told me that they did not want to have children because children would just interfere with their lives. They viewed children as a burden, rather than a blessing. In fact, a certain woman frankly told me that she was too selfish to have a child. She did not want to have a child, because she knew it would mean an inconvenient life.
Do you know how many babies are aborted per day in the U. S.? The answer is heart breaking—approximately 3,700 babies per day. And 93 % of all abortions happen generally because of inconvenience.  Listen to the following statistics:
1% of all abortions occur because of rape or incest; 6% of abortions occur because of potential health problems regarding either the mother or child, and 93% of all abortions occur for social reasons (i.e. the child is unwanted or inconvenient).
In other words, if you were to ask 100 mothers who aborted their children, “Why did you abort your child?” A large number of them would probably say something like this: “Well, because that baby in my womb would just interfere with my education or career.” Or, “I don’t want to have an inconvenient life.”
What?! You aborted your unborn baby simply because you didn’t want to have an inconvenient life?! Of course, it can be inconvenient to have a baby. You will experience sleepless nights as you nurse your baby in the middle of the night or rock your sick baby to sleep. You will have additional expenses, messes to clean up; and, your days will not always go according to your schedule. Children can indeed “interfere” with some of our plans.
Of course, it is difficult to raise a child. Being a parent comes with great responsibilities (you provide for your children, take care of them, train them in the way they should go, correct and discipline them, and the list goes on and on). Such responsibilities are not always easy to do, especially if a child has a physical or mental disability.
And, of course, it can be stressful to have children. Kids can sometimes be annoying. They can test your patience. Having children requires sacrifice. You need to sacrifice your time, your comfort, and sometimes your dreams. Oh, but the joy of parenting surpasses its stress and sacrifice. The blessing of parenthood outweighs its discomfort.
My wife and I have five children. Yes, I don’t deny the difficulty of parenting.
Read More
Related Posts:

We all have our levels of discomfort we seem willing to bear and our levels of discomfort, what we even find uncomfortable, differs from person to person and all of us, at some level, will allow that lure of an easy life to overtake. When Jesus calls us to take up our cross and follow him, this is precisely what I think he is calling us to put to death. For the sake of the gospel, we must die to our comfort. Those of us who won’t will end up killing the church.

I have long been convinced that one of the biggest enemies of the gospel is our own personal comfort. There are simply some lines that we seemingly are unwilling to cross. Some of our lines may differ, there are levels to which we are willing to tolerate some discomfort but even our discomfort is largely within the bounds of what we are comfortable being uncomfortable with (if that makes sense?) But if we are serious about the cause of the gospel, we are going to have to get a bit uncomfortable.
I am reminded of the missionaries who told me that there seems to be some sort of common belief that they must just be people who love snakes in their beds or civil unrest. It’s alright for them – they probably love the adventure – but it’s not really for me. Whilst I’m sure there are some who relish the adventure, I am sure many more are less enamoured with dangerous animals and less than sanitary conditions and are, instead, motivated by the belief that somebody needs to take the gospel where nobody is willing to go. They chose to be uncomfortable for the sake of Christ.
It is very similar to the kind of noise those of us in deprived communities often hear. It’s alright for people like you, but it isn’t for me. I’m never quite sure what they mean by that in my case. Not least, most who insist it’s alright for people like me because I’m more like the people here than they are usually also want to tell me how middle class my upbringing was and I definitely am. You can’t really have that both ways. But even if they have some other reason – and I know unquestionably middle class people who have gone to deprived places who have heard similar things – the line remains largely the same: that would be a level of discomfort too far for me. But, of course, because we know it isn’t the “spiritual” thing to say, we dress up our discomfort by insisting that the people who do go must just love living next door to drug addicts on council estates or serving in areas where racial tension runs high.
But of course, we have the same problem the closer to home we get too. Forget being asked to move anywhere, we hear these comments from people being asked to share the gospel in the nicer areas they have decided to live in. Churches with evangelists, or any people committed to evangelism, will often point to such people and say ‘it’s alright for you.’ I have been in middle class churches where any evangelistic endeavour or people of a more evangelistic bent are just viewed as loving being gauche, weirdos who must just love awkward conversations about Jesus or people who have no concern about whether they keep their jobs or not. It’s alright for them, but it’s not for me. It’s all a level of discomfort too far.
Then there are the lads who perhaps are a bit worried about evangelism but they’re at least willing to sit and talk with members of the church and help them grow. But meeting up for half an hour, in a lunch break, that’s a bit of a pain. Easier just to not do that. Then there are evenings out, but that’s all a hassle too. There is a level of discomfort even here that stop us from bothering engaging in discipleship and giving up almost any of our time for the sake of building the kingdom.
Read More
Related Posts:

Martha (of Bethany) and several other women who followed Jesus were hospitable—welcoming the Lord and his disciples into their homes and caring for them. These women served others with their hands and energy (Luke 8:1-3). Yet, they were not immune to pain and suffering. Martha, her sister Mary, and her brother Lazarus were close friends of Jesus. Yet even though Jesus was an intimate friend of the family—a friend she could send for in a crisis—this did not mean Martha lived a carefree life. 

The Bible is full of exciting stories, many of them including strong, passionate, and wise women. While many devotionals and books focus on Proverbs 31 to teach about godly womanhood, let’s also remember the many narratives that portray women of valor in the Scriptures. Here are five God-glorifying traits we find in these valiant women of the Bible who encourage and inspire us today.
1. Discerning: A Wise Woman Saves Her Household
Abigail in 1 Samuel 25:3 is described as being a discerning woman. When her husband acted rudely and grievously mistreated David, Abigail loaded up gift baskets to make peace with David. Her husband didn’t even realize the danger in which he had placed his family. If Abigail had not acted, her whole family would have been destroyed by David because of her husband’s insolence.
Abigail recognized that David was chosen to rule Israel and approached him in such a way as to remind him that God is the one who will establish David’s kingdom, and David will not be vindicated by his own efforts (1 Sam. 25:30-31). Abigail did the right thing, even though her husband acted foolishly. Because she acted wisely, Abigail saved her whole household and encouraged the future king of Israel to act wisely and trust God (1 Sam. 25:30-35).
2. Choosing God’s Side: Clever, Believing, and Brave
Rahab believed God’s people would conquer her city, and she wanted to be on God’s side. She realized that her city of Jericho would be destroyed, so she cleverly hid two Israelite spies and helped them escape from Jericho soldiers. Rahab was even brought before the king and questioned. But she didn’t give up the Israelite men whom she was protecting. This is both a great spy story and faith story!
Rahab not only uses her wits to protect God’s people, but she also joins herself to God’s people. As Joshua learned from the Angel of the Lord that he must obey God’s marching orders and be loyal to him (Josh. 5:14), Rahab also knew that she must be on God’s side to live. Rahab believed God’s people would be victorious and bravely used her mind, words, and actions to protect God’s people—and her own family in the process (Josh. 2:1-6:25).
3. Renewing the Mind: Acquiring Knowledge
Mary, the sister of Martha, was a learner.
Read More
Related Posts:

We are entirely dependent on the vine to bear fruit. Apart from Christ we can’t worship, pray, understand the Word, obey His commands, speak words that edify, love one another, show kindness as He has shown to us, forgive one another, discern truth from error, bring people to a knowledge of Christ, or build up the church. Abiding in Jesus is critical for believers because apart from Christ we all are useless in the vineyard and kingdom of God.

Throughout the past six posts, we have been answering the crucial question, “Who is Jesus?” from John’s Gospel, where Jesus made seven “I am” statements. In our last post, we observed a culmination of sorts when Jesus brought together the first five “I am” statements in John 14:6, saying, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” By making this sweeping declaration, Jesus emphatically asserted that He is the exclusive, all-sufficient Savior.
Jesus’ encouragement was critical for the disciples to understand because He was departing to the Father, and their hearts were troubled by this looming reality. They worried how their relationship with Christ would function when He was no longer physically present with them. The question that plagued their minds is relevant for all Jesus’ disciples today. If we recognize who Jesus is in His first six “I am” statements and come to believe in Him for life, how do we live out that life in this present world awaiting His glorious return?
Many professing disciples of Jesus currently have little or no understanding of what it means or looks like to live the Christian life in Christ’s absence. Many professing Christians would claim they believe in Jesus and are saved by His cross and resurrection, but they cannot articulate how that salvation should impact the way they live. They do not see Jesus as all-sufficient for their daily living, nor do they believe He can help them navigate the struggles of their lives.
The question for all Jesus’ followers is simply this: How do we live lives of dependence on Christ in our day-to-day walk so God is glorified through us in the here and now? Jesus answers this question in His final “I am” statement in John 15, when He calls Himself “the true vine.” In this statement, Jesus provides the key to depending on Him as our all-sufficient Savior: we must abide in Christ because He is the true vine who gives all we need.
To grasp Jesus’ meaning, there are three things we need to understand as disciples of Christ about abiding in Him.
First, if we would abide in Jesus and truly depend on Him for all we require to be pleasing to the Lord, we must understand the necessity of abiding in Christ.
Abiding in Christ is not an optional part of the Christian life, but an absolute necessity for Jesus’ disciples. Christ alone is the source of God’s blessings, and He alone is the source of what we need to live the Christian life. Jesus is, in essence, emphasizing again His total and absolute sufficiency. Because He is the true vine, His sufficiency and power will never run dry.
Jesus gives us two more reasons why it is necessary that we abide in Him.
Read More
Related Posts: