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Speaking For God


“What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”—
    the things God has prepared for those who love him—

 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.
          The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.  For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.  This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:9-18)

          “Don’t judge!”
          The moment you say that something that is popular in the world’s mind is wrong, you hear it. “The Bible says ‘don’t judge.’” In today’s passage, it says that the person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things. To this, they reply, “That’s what Paul said. He twisted everything around.” Dare I make note that this statement is a judgment? “How arrogant you are!” they say. Another judgment.
          Today’s passage says that we have received the Spirit who is from God. Is it arrogant to agree with Scripture? Is a person arrogant to insist that two plus two equals four? On the other side of today’s equation, however, there is this note. The one who has the Spirit is subject to the judgment of the Spirit. 
          The one who doesn’t have the Spirit considers the things that come from the Spirit to be foolishness. How often do we hear them reprove?
          “My god would never…” Perhaps not, but are you sure? Are you sure because you think you dictate to God what He may or may not do?
          “We can’t all live like that.”  We can’t? Perhaps not, but are you sure? And if we can’t all live like that, is it really wise to demand that we all live according to your standards?
          If it is wrong for me to say that I speak for God, or that He speaks to me or through me, is it right for you to say that you speak for God, or that He speaks to you or through you? Oh, you don’t speak for God? He doesn’t speak through you? Well then, why should anyone listen?

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