“Who can know the LORD’s thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him?” But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:16)
In the steps to transformation, we’ve stepped from the ground floor of faith onto the first step - virtue. We’ve discovered the fundamental desire to please God.
Now 2 Peter 1:5 tells us to add to our virtue knowledge. We're moving from the chamber of the heart that contains desire to the chamber that contains our thoughts and beliefs. God’s gonna give us some truth. The source of truth for us is ALWAYS going to be the Bible - not tradition, feelings, opinions or anything else. Remember, that was part of the foundation of faith, God’s word trumps everything. There are going to be a million little - or big - pieces of truth that get into our minds over time, but let’s simplify the concept by looking at one idea:
GOING TO CHURCH.
Wrong Knowledge
Say we’re talking about an imaginary disciple (let’s call her Lucinda, because why not?) who’s been bopping into her local church now and then. And Lucinda is a contemporary girl. She knows that her culture sort of mocks at going to church as an old fashioned thing. And as a contemporary Christian, Lucinda understands that you don’t have to show up at some organized church service every week to prove her love for God, right?
A Little Bit of Knowledge
One Sunday, Lucinda hears the preacher read from Hebrews 10:25,
“Let us not neglect meeting together, as some have made a habit, but let us
encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
The virtue/desire to please the Lord is present in Lucinda, and so she begins to consider this idea of church attendance. Is it really that important? Do I have to go to church every week to be a good Christian? Can’t I worship from home? To get answers to these questions, where does Lucinda go?
A Lot More Knowledge
She goes to God’s Word. These questions lead her to search out truth about the Church as God sees her, not as the world does, and not, maybe, as Lucinda did before. She learns about the nature and identity of the Church, the purpose of the Church, the privilege and responsibilities of church membership, the call to build one another up, the call to worship corporately, the idea of church as the family of God and, over time, Lucinda’s whole perspective about church and church attendance changes.
She is having the Romans 12:1 experience:
“Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
See, her mind is being renewed as she soaks in the truth from God’s Word! Such an exciting thing! Lucinda now has added knowledge to her virtue.
I want to point out something here that I’ve seen. There has been a tendency in some circles to minimize the role our mind plays in our faith. I challenge you to do a word study on the mind in scripture sometime to see just how important God says this part of the heart is!
Another thing to remember is that God gave teachers to help us gain knowledge and insight into Scripture. So it’s perfectly OK to read books and Bible studies by reputable authors to learn more as well. But the primary source of truth is always the Bible itself.
What do you do with the knowledge you’ve gained? What will Lucinda do? Coming in the next blog post!
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