“Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit Who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” – 1 Corinthians 2:12-14

IT IS ASTOUNDING to realize the eagerness and enthusiasm of some folk who voluntarily embark upon the ministry, while it is so apparent they have no calling from God Himself. Nowadays, anyone can venture for the clergy; there are no requirements or no limitations as to who can or cannot take up such a profession, no matter what your religious views, sexual orientation or criminal status – it’s open for all who wish to buy into such ‘credentials’. The world has managed to secularize the sacred where only God can qualify and equip for such a field.

Only yesterday I was conversing with someone who has just been ‘ordained’ through some universal church organization that caters for all faiths. His view was that he will take from each of the world’s religions and then appropriate such a concoction of advice to those who seek spiritual counsel.

The interesting aspect came about when he mentioned his open-mindedness to accepting information from either the Quran or the Bible, at which point I had to strongly interject and explain that naturally he could never be open-minded about the Bible; it would make no difference, whatsoever, how broad-minded he would be in reading the Bible if God had not opened his mind to understand the Scriptures. Being open-minded and having a mind that has been opened lie on the opposite sides of the spectrum and exists as far apart as carbon monoxide is to oxygen; as ice to fire.

I have often heard people speak of growing in their understanding of the Scriptures by seeing something they had previously overlooked the last time they read it, or their perception of life matures as they move on in years, therefore shedding more light in their study of the Bible. However, such leanings will only prove to be a wisdom that is not from God. We may watch a film for the third time, and see something we had totally missed in all its other viewings; hear lyrics in a song that we’ve listened to a thousand times but never quite caught that one particular line, or even re-read some classic and perceive it in a new light.

Such perspectives should never be equated when coming to study the Scriptures. Growth in the understanding of the Scriptures is nurtured only by the Holy Spirit. With effort, we can all grow academically in the knowledge of the Scriptures and totally fail to perceive the truth behind them. We can be as open-minded as much we want, but we will always have an unconscious bias until God opens our mind to understand; we will always be blind to the truth until God unveils our eyes to perceive it.

The Bible is not a text book to be picked up and flung down at our whim, yet many treat it as such. Worse still, some bible colleges breed that outlook. In all their dissection of God’s Word, they are nowhere nearer to beholding the weight and glory of its supernatural reality and power – much more, changed by it.

No matter how familiar we are with portions of Scripture, whether or not we are walking concordances and no matter how well we may recite them by memory, we must always read them prayerfully; we must always have a mind that is ever seeking God for a continual, further revelation and understanding of them. The indicator to knowing whether we have a child-like (not childish) and dependant spirit on God is that the more we know, the more we realize how much we don’t know.

“…grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” – 2 Peter 3:18