Passage Read: 1 Corinthians 2-3
Meditation Verses: 3:1-3
Thought
The best way to discern who is maturing in Christ and who is still only a natural man is to teach God's truth. All of us who are new in Christ still appear fleshly. We still tend to think according to our old worldly ways, and judge things by our old worldly values. But when God's Word and wisdom confront us, those of us with the Spirit give way to the Spirit's wisdom. Those who are still just natural men will not be able to receive the wisdom and ways of God. Worldly wisdom and behaviors in the church need to be rebuked and corrected. Those in the church who are offended and remain offended, we can be pretty sure that they are not yet redeemed; they do not yet have the Spirit of God dwelling in them and revealing truth to them. But those that do belong to Christ will receive the correction, perhaps not all at once or at the first rebuke, but the Spirit within them will reveal the truth to them and they will come around.
Application
My confidence in teaching the truths of God's Word should come not from my ability to explain and convince and win an argument, but from the Spirit who reveals God's inscrutable truth to human hearts. The hard truth is that natural men and women cannot receive the truths of God. Those who belong to Christ will not understand or accept God's truth as long as they process things through human wisdom, but the Spirit should in time reveal to them their error and bring them to an understanding and acceptance of the truth. This is as true with the Gospel itself as with any other truth of God. Those whom God is calling will believe; those whom God is not calling will never be able to receive and believe His revelation—not until it's too late.