from Pleasant Grove Baptist Church http://bit.ly/31FwdBF
via IFTTT Christianity is not a "mind thing", it is a "heart thing". Unlike religion, the Gospel can not be learned. No amount of study or understanding can bring a person into an understanding of our God and Creator. No amount of debate can convince any of us of the truth of the Gospel. Why? Because the Gospel is not an understanding of the mind. It is not about memorizing scripture or learning Bible stories and their meaning. The gospel is about a relationship between our spirit and the Spirit of God. Paul is saying here that it is pointless to try to attain this relationship with God through work of the mind, through learning, understanding, or memory. Those are things of natural physical man. Those are the things that Adam tried to use to become like God in the garden...knowledge of good and evil. Wow, consider this....trying to attain holiness through knowledge is the sin of the garden that brought sin and suffering into our world! Trying to attain holiness (being like God without God) through man's abilities is the basic sin of humanity. Yet most religions tout this as the method to use. Learning. Mindfulness. Understanding. These are sin! These are why we suffer today. Man chose to attain holiness his own way, in his own abilities of mind and body. The Gospel says "man is hopeless, learning and understanding are hopeless, only an act of God can bring man into holiness". That act was what Jesus did on the cross. By dieing in our place, and paying the debt for our sin, we can be made holy (sinless, guiltless) in God's eyes. Then the Spirit of God can again inhabit our spirit and we are alive with understanding and knowledge beyond comprehension. You see, it is not knowledge itself that is the sin. The act of sin is in man attaining knowledge on his own, without God's action and oversight. Man grabbing the fruit of the tree and eating by his own power instead of relying on God to enlighten him. Did God want man ignorant of the ways of God? Is that why God forbid "the knowledge of good and evil"? Of course not. It wasn't even that knowledge itself was evil. God said "do not eat or it", an act of man attaining the knowledge without God. God wanted to be the father, graciously and carefully guiding man into truth and knowledge. But man was impatient and proud, and chose to do it his own way, without God. It's not knowledge that is evil, it is how we attain it! When reading something, watching something, or hearing something, it is the Holy Spirit that brings understanding not through our thoughts, but through our spirit. It is not the words, not the speaker that give us understanding, it is the Spirit of God. So a person not washed clean in the blood of Jesus can not attain understanding. It's impossible because understanding truth is not a mind thing done by man, but a God thing done by and in spirit So, what is the conclusion? Pray. Seek understanding through spirit, from the inside out. Whether reading, listening, or watching, seek understanding from the Holy Spirit. He is the one who opens our eyes, from the inside out. We know truth in our hearts before we can explain it in our mind. It is an act of God, not man. Understanding is granted, not achieved. Bottom line? It's all Jesus. Only He can turn teaching into understanding. Turn to him regardless of the source of the lesson, ask Him for understanding. It's all Jesus.
