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Foolishness

             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. (I Corinthians 2:14)

 Ko ahau, e oku teina, i ahau i haere atu ai ki a koutou, kihai ahau i haere atu me te pai kupu, me te hua ranei o te whakaaro, i ahau i kauwhau ai ki a koutou i te mea ngaro a te Atua.

What does the second quote above say? More than 200 thousand people in the world would recognize it, though maybe not as many could translate it. It isn’t the verse above it. That would be too easy on you. It is the first verse in that chapter, and the language is Maori, spoken by a shrinking number of people in New Zealand.

But if you or I read it, it’s gibberish. It’s foolishness. Similarly, if someone were to come pounding on your door, screaming that there’s a UFO. You’d probably think the person was foolish or even crazy – unless you had a similar experience.

This means that, like so many other instances, what Scripture tells us is basic truth. If someone does not know the language of the Spirit and has not experienced the Spirit at work in their life, of course, it’s foolishness to them! How could it be anything else? But the fact that it is foolishness to them does not mean that it is ultimately or absolutely foolish. Its foolishness is due to their failure, not the thing's failure. If they learn or experience, it will no longer be foolish.

The same goes for Christians who dismiss non-Christians as fools or what they believe as foolishness. If you had experienced only what they have experienced, you would think Christians foolish, too. The only way they will see or understand is through the Spirit’s work in their lives. It does no good to scold a blind person for not seeing or a dead person for not responding. 

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