God’s marvellous mystery
1 Corinthians 2.6-16
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.
Prepare
Close your eyes (don’t fall asleep!) and ask the Holy Spirit to open your eyes and your heart, so you might see and understand God’s wisdom.
Read
Explore
I have always enjoyed murder mystery novels. The only problem is, once the murderer has been identified and I know ‘whodunnit’, it’s a bit boring reading them a second time!
The Father gives all Christians the gift of the Spirit, which is a bit like having ‘whodunnit’ printed on the front cover – except that instead of spoiling the story, he helps us to understand it (v 12).
Only through the Spirit can we see the mystery, hidden for ages (v 7), that in Jesus, Jew and Gentile are heirs together of all God’s promises (see Ephesians 3.1–13). Only through ‘Spirit eyes’ (vs 10,14) can we see through the sin and the mess and the pain of this life, to God’s glorious vision of a people united in Jesus.
God doesn’t let us see how things are going to end up as a way of taunting us with a dim and distant future. No – he shows us how things are meant to be, beckons us towards it, and gives us his Spirit to help us get there.
Respond
Ask God to go on filling you with his Spirit, and to give you the mind of Christ (v 16). Then ask him to show you how you can break down boundaries and foster unity in your local church.