Category: Spiritual Healing

“Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God by humiliating those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? Certainly not in this matter!” 1 Corinthians 11:22, NIV

The Remedy puts Paul’s question even more sharply: are you trying to make God’s church appear heartless and cruel by mistreating those less fortunate?

I’ll be honest. These verses make me feel angry, hurt and rejected, because this is how I grew up. I could see the “enough” on the table for everyone else, and no one offered to share. I could feel the contempt from other church members, but I didn’t understand why.

I’ve since learned it wasn’t necessarily aimed at me. They were acting out of what they truly were. They could take, but they could not give what they did not have. I stopped expecting anything from the church years ago. I realized they are all just broken people needing the same healing I need.

So I kept looking for the people of God, a safe place to rest my soul. What I’ve come to understand is that there are no people within the church body healed and able to do the work of mentoring, befriending, supporting or loving with the Love of Christ. We are all still becoming who we will be.

In groups like congregations, there’s an expectation that someone else will do it, that the “church” should take care of its own. What we don’t seem to understand is that we are the church. No one is going to magically appear and do the duties God brings to our attention. That is maturity, and it is very hard to grow up in an institution of any kind. Outside it, if a need comes to your attention, there’s no expectation that someone else will take care of it. Your growth happens because you are doing, each day, the things that bring the growing into your heart and mind.

Plenty of Attendance, Very Little Gathering

The church does exist, but its members are not found by gathering in a building. There is plenty of attendance, but very little gathering. The gathering Hebrews tells us not to abandon (Hebrews 10:24–25) is coming together to support and encourage each other. It is not listening to a sermon, brushing past the other believers, and going home.

The gathering together is the young girl at your dining room table whom you are mentoring. It is the young men you teach to swing a hammer, put two boards together and build something. Christ said He would attend those meetings: “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). We attend church every time we sit down with someone and share from the heart, encouraging, caring, hearing and loving. This is the attendance Christ wants us to have.

Hidden, for Now

Christ’s church is growing up to full maturity, out of the sight and understanding of this world and its denominations. Scripture speaks of a nation born at once (Isaiah 66:8). One day the veil of obscurity, the quiet personal lives and small spheres of influence where His people have grown, will open wide. Whatever the event is that brings us into the light, it will likely happen in one day, and His church will stand up and be known.

For now we go mostly unnoticed, doing the work He gives us each day. We recognize each other in passing. I’ve been privileged to know many who fit this picture. They don’t sit around long in your life; they’re busy, with so many people they are working to bless. But I know when I’ve been with a child of God, because they leave a refreshing in the air as they pass by. The Jesus in me can see the Jesus in you. The Father is carefully watching each of His developing children. We are known and loved.

The True Membership

Membership in His church requires only our choice and a willing heart to become more. Loving with the Love of Christ, being willing to give for the benefit of others, loving wisely, making your life an open book that Christ can write upon: this is membership in His church. Growing up into a mature, Christ-like person is the result.

When we notice the neighbor in need and share what we can, we are feasting at the Lord’s Supper.

“So then, when you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, for when you are eating, some of you go ahead with your own private supper. As a result, one person remains hungry and another gets drunk.” 1 Corinthians 11:20–21, NIV

When the believers at Corinth came together, Paul told them plainly that it was not the Lord’s Supper they were eating. Each one hurried ahead with his own meal. One went home hungry while another drank too much. They had the bread and the cup, the gathering, the outward form of the table, and none of its heart.

A Room Full of Strangers

What Paul describes is a room full of strangers coming together for a special meal, one they don’t understand. The whole occasion lacks the Spirit of Christ. His loving act, His intentions, are lost on them. They are there for the food, regardless of the needs or cares of anyone else. It is not the Lord’s Supper they are celebrating; it is only a feeding they are having together.

The remedy is simple. Remember that when you come together, it is from the Lord’s table that you are eating, so be like Him. He served His disciples. Yet at Corinth it was everyone for themselves, one rushing ahead of another, no one serving anyone. It was all about gratifying self.

What the Table Was Meant to Be

The Lord’s Supper, or any meal taken with believers, can be an uplifting time where topics are discussed, testimonies are shared, and encouragement is offered. In a family, time at the table is special, set apart from other activities just for the family to share and reconnect. Many homes don’t do this any longer, but those who hold to it find a true blessing: a chance to truly know your family and be a part of their day.

The Lord’s Supper was a missed opportunity for that infant church to bless each other and be blessed themselves. Instead it had become a meal the tender-hearted would avoid.

Our Presence Is a Statement

This morning I tried to put myself in that congregation, to imagine what it would have felt like to walk into that room. And I realized I would have refused to attend. It is not a place I would have sanctioned with my presence.

Sometimes our actions say more than words could convey. By attending, we add our endorsement to what is practiced there. At times, absenting ourselves is our only choice, when to attend would put our endorsement on the wrong side.

But it depends on who you are in that congregation. Someone of noble bearing or strong personality might stand up and turn the direction of the meeting. Corinth, though, was already torn by factions. Paul had heard of the divisions, and the hostility between the cliques ran strong right alongside this sacrilege of the Lord’s Supper. In a room that bitter, even a gracious example would likely be read as taking a side. Nothing could be accomplished by showing up.

That is why Paul’s admonition was so needed. Someone from the outside, someone they all respected, had to speak up and clean out the misunderstandings and pettiness. Even Paul knew a letter would not be enough; the rest, he said, he would set in order when he came.

The sad part is that when the wise stop attending, the table is left even more empty of the love of Christ.

From the Inside Looking Out

I did not have to imagine all of this. I grew up close to the center of a very conservative church community, and I saw much from the inside looking out, things I could have lived my whole life without knowing. I watched men kneel on the platform on Sabbath morning whose lives behind the scenes told a very different story. As a young girl I had no standing and no voice. The only statement in my power was to quietly absent myself when I knew a situation would be wrong.

It confused me for a long time. But the Lord kept loving me, kept showing me there was something better, and I kept choosing to go toward the light and the good.

Our Choices Are What We Have

That is all we have in this life: our choices. We cannot always stop the bad from happening to us, but we can choose the good. If in our hearts we choose and want the good, Christ counts us as good.

The ones in the outward places of honor may have every form of the table and none of His heart. The one with no standing at all may have none of the form and all of the choosing. Christ sees the heart. That is what this passage tells me about God.

Reflections on 1 Corinthians 11:19

“No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval.” (1 Corinthians 11:19, NIV)

“But I suppose you feel this is necessary so that you who are always right will become known and recognized!” (Living Bible)

Some mornings a verse surprises me. Paul has just said he hears there are divisions among the Corinthian believers, and then he says something that sounds almost like permission: there must be divisions among you.

Translation after translation says it plainly. Knox speaks of those who are “true metal.” The TEV says the ones in the right may be clearly seen. Then I came to the Living Bible, and it turned the whole thing around.

Which Is It?

Is Paul saying the factions come from the ego of strong-minded believers, each collecting followers so they can stand out from the rest? Or is he saying divisions are a natural outcome, something to be expected as people’s heart convictions draw others of like heart together?

I believe Paul had a real insight here, and it is too important to toss aside as sarcasm. Divisions are to be expected, not because of pride or selfish hearts wanting followers, but because like hearts are drawn together. When they meet, they enjoy conversation shared freely at the level of their own spiritual maturity. They become sounding boards for one another’s newly formed thoughts, trusting the integrity and understanding of those they share with.

That is a good thing. To gather with others of like mind, for the purpose of stirring the heart and mind toward God, is a worthwhile pursuit. Every member, at every level, needs such a group: an open group where they can be fed, share freely, and be valued for what they understand.

Iron Sharpens Iron

There is a natural reason for this. Iron sharpens iron (Proverbs 27:17). A mind is honed against a mind of similar strength; you cannot sharpen your thinking on a mind less capable than your own. Strength of mind and intellect are gifts from God, given to be used in His service, and we naturally form our closest relationships around those we can share with, who bless us as we bless them. That is not exclusiveness. It is simply how communities and life actually work.

Picture a third grader sitting in on a college course discussion, thinking he can contribute. He is not lesser for being there; he simply cannot yet sharpen or be sharpened in that room. I have been in rooms where the minds around me towered over mine and I could barely follow along. I kept my mouth shut and soaked it in like a sponge, and I came away richer. There is snobbery on both sides of this. Those with a strong intellect must not look down on others, and those without it need to accept that God gives each of us different gifts, and this may not be one of ours. Paul says as much in the very next chapter: there are different gifts, but the same Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:4).

Someone Further Down the Road

But every group also needs someone a little further down the road. A circle of young believers left to itself tends to stay where it is. It needs a stronger, more mature believer to nurture it and draw it toward more beneficial things. That kind of mentoring seems to have been missing in the young church at Corinth, and the camps were becoming exclusive and hostile toward one another.

When the Focus Moves

People gathering with others of like heart is not the problem. The problem is the unsanctified, prideful, selfish heart that finds itself at an immature level and decides to settle in, put down roots and stay there, refusing to keep learning and growing.

Of course, as humans we want others to agree with us. So we use the power of our personality, persuasion and position to convince others to follow our lead. And slowly the focus moves. It is no longer on Christ, on building up His body, on our own growth and healing, or on blessing our fellow man with the glorious Truth of salvation, Love and Grace flowing freely from Christ. Instead it is about our pride, our fear of change, and our wanting to be in control.

This is not just Corinth. It is every society, every family circle. It is human nature, unhealed human nature.

Paul Had This

Paul needed to refocus his fledgling fellowship before they self-destructed and lost their peace and joy in this life, and their future glory with it. That work takes an understanding of people and of human nature, strongly developed, along with wisdom that comes from the heart of God and a great deal of patience. Mostly it takes Love, true love for people.

Paul had this.

And this is the work we are called to as well. We cannot bless people if we do not know them, and we will not know them if we have no interest in who they are. Where are they on the road? What can they receive today? Who is walking beside them? The answers begin with caring enough to ask.

Reflections on 1 Corinthians 11:18

“In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it.” (1 Corinthians 11:18, NIV)

“First of all, in your church meetings I am told that cliques prevail, and I partly believe it.” (Moffatt)

What draws me most in this verse is Paul’s mature reaction to the gossip. He does not let it change how he thinks of his children. He determines to know the truth of them, and he knows them well enough to see this is a pitfall they could easily fall into.

Not at Face Value

Paul is not accepting gossip at face value. He is weighing the reports he hears against what he knows to be true about his children in the faith. His wisdom and understanding of them, and of human nature, will not let him dismiss the stories as gossip to be ignored. But he knows them well enough to believe it could be happening. So he says, in effect, I can see how this could be happening; it is possible. Moffatt has him say he “partly” believes it; the Jerusalem Bible, that he “half” believes it.

A good parent who knows her children and hears a wild story about one of them doesn’t swallow it whole, and she doesn’t throw it out either. She weighs it against what she knows of her child. A loving heart will not fully believe repeated gossip as factual truth. Gossip is often enlarged by the teller, and a story traveling across the country could be greatly embellished by the time it reached the ears of Paul. As Proverbs says, the first to tell his story seems right until another comes and questions him (Proverbs 18:17).

But neither will a loving parent ignore the story or let the opportunity pass her by. She will go to her child personally, and with a parent’s loving care discover the true heart of her child and nurture what needs nurturing, using even the gossip to support her child as they continue to grow and develop. That is exactly what Paul is about to do with this letter.

A Hospital for Hurting Souls

Paul’s heart of love sees his struggling children in Christ and realizes they need guidance. He needs to give them the mature wisdom none of them has yet developed, before the church implodes and fails to serve its purpose as a hospital for broken, hurting souls looking for the healing only the life of Christ in us can bring (Mark 2:17).

The problem he has been told of is that they are not of one heart. The factions have set their stakes and refuse to be moved or to hear the other side of an issue. They have stopped working together as the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12–27). And notice where it is happening: when you come together, at the very gathering meant to make them one.

A Church Too Young for Its Leaders

Paul also understands that the leaders in Corinth are not yet mature enough to carry the load they are under. The whole truth of Christ and His church was brand new. Except for those who had spent personal time with Christ, no one was truly mature enough to lead a new and growing congregation. Paul would later warn against putting a new believer into leadership, lest pride take hold (1 Timothy 3:6). Even those who had walked with Jesus needed that connection reestablished every day; the council marveled at Peter and John, ordinary, unschooled men, and recognized that they had been with Jesus (Acts 4:13). And the work was tremendous. The whole known world was being evangelized, and it all went out in one generation (Colossians 1:6, 23). What a huge undertaking, and what a need to grow up quickly!

Every Member a Blessing

Without strong, wise leadership, any group will fail to carry on for long. Yet a strong personality carries its own danger. Unless that leader stays connected to the mind of Christ, human pride gets in the way, and soon we have our followers, our little congregation, and Christ is lost in the shuffle. People begin modeling after their leader instead of after Christ. Corinth had already been down this road: “I follow Paul,” “I follow Apollos,” “I follow Cephas” (1 Corinthians 1:12–13). Paul’s answer then was simple: Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you?

In the beginning of our walk, leaning on a leader is natural, because we don’t yet know Christ, and those who bring us to Him hold a very special place in our hearts and minds. But if they do their duty well, they will take the connection we have to them and show us where it truly belongs. That is what Paul meant when he said, “Follow me as I follow Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). That is not happening in Corinth. The reports show them falling into rule keeping instead of loving each other and following Christ, their true Leader.

Christ set up His church to be a blessing to every member. Those of more mature experience in the things of God keep growing as they hone their people skills supporting the babies in the faith. There is never an excuse to sit back in inactivity, letting our talents rust. In this life we continue to be a blessing, to develop our talents, to expand our minds, to learn new things, to see new and wonderful truth in the word of God. All this is our daily fare until we draw our last breath. The Lord provides the Holy Spirit to be with us constantly, directing our attention, minds, hearts, and even our physical bodies to the place we need to be.

Leaving the Results in His Hands

Paul is seeing more than the gossiping reports. He is seeing the danger his beloved children are falling into. He is not present with them, and letters take time to arrive. This is us in our daily life: we can only do our best in any situation the Spirit makes us aware of, and then we leave the results in His hands. Paul planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth (1 Corinthians 3:6–7). Paul understands this, and he is allowing the Lord to guide his pen as he continues to counsel his beloved children.

Reflections on 1 Corinthians 2:15

“The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments.” (1 Corinthians 2:15, NIV)

The Living Bible says the spiritual person’s insight “bothers and baffles the man of the world, who can’t understand him at all.” Goodspeed puts it beautifully: “the spiritual man is alive to all true values, but his own true value no unspiritual man can see.”

The Jesus in me can be seen only by the Jesus in you.

The Holy Spirit, who knows the mind of God, lives within us and lets us see His mind and heart in another of His children. The currents of Life, Love, and Truth flow between us, and we sense the presence of the Father in each other.

Each day we will discern more of Him. The Fires of Truth and Love clear more and more of the blockage from our souls, hearts, and minds, and we become more like Jesus. We think as He would and love as He loved.

Our lives are ours to live. We are free to choose the good for ourselves, free to be good and to do good. And as He works in us, we find we can trust ourselves not to break faith with ourselves, with the Father, or with those we support and care for.

You sustain us, Lord, giving each day its duties. We are surrounded by Your Fires. Heal our hearts, and burn out all the sin sickness still within us.

Reflections on 1 Corinthians 2:14

“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.” (1 Corinthians 2:14, NIV)

Phillips says it plainly: “you must be spiritual to see spiritual things.” Dr. Tim Jennings of Come and Reason Ministries, in The Remedy, shows what the “foolishness” really is: the truth “about God’s character of selfless love; such absolute love is foolishness to them.” To a heart still ruled by self, Love that gives everything simply doesn’t make sense.

But the heart that is healed is able to understand the truth about our God. The Holy Spirit brings this truth home to us. We love the truth because the Spirit of Love living in us is open to all that the Spirit of God brings.

The Fires of Truth and Love are removing the selfish blockage from our hearts and minds. As they do, we can take in more and more of the Fire flowing from God. The current needs to flow unhindered, in perfect circulation through us and out to others.

I see this every day in my healing work. Anytime there is blockage, there is pain and disease. And the other side is just as true: when there is pain, there is blockage somewhere. Whether a disease is clogging up the system or an injury has created it, pain comes from blockage.

Fresh pain is a good thing. It tells us there is something that needs our attention. But in time we can grow numb to it. We can ignore it long enough, or numb it: with drugs for the body; with food or other poor substitutes, so we don’t feel so bad and can ignore our need of emotional healing; or spiritually, by making up rules for everyone to follow, so we can feel good about ourselves for keeping all the right ones while our hearts are still empty of saving grace.

The priests who nailed the Savior to the cross wanted Him taken down by sundown, so they could keep every rule and go home to celebrate the feast, having just murdered the very One it pointed to.

All of this is blockage: old, useless stuff clogging the healthy circulation of our bodies, our hearts, and our minds. It needs to be cleared out.

Each day we choose to do the hard work and allow the Lord to heal the painful places in our hearts. Each choice clears a little more of the blockage, and more of the healing Fire can pass through.

We will pass through the valley of the shadow of death more than once. Again and again we will surrender another cherished habit or comfort we have clung to for our own security. But the Lord is our fortress and stronghold. He is all we need. We may feel alone except for God, but what a great exception He is. We are completely surrounded with all the support, love, and care we could ever need or want.

The way into that support is to let go of the selfish, self-comforting habits we hold onto, and allow the Fires of Truth and Love to clear those places, so the Lord can fill them with what truly comforts and heals.

Reflections on 1 Corinthians 2:13

“This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.” (1 Corinthians 2:13, NIV)

Paul says the message he carries isn’t dressed in the polished phrases of human philosophy. It comes in words the Spirit teaches. Williams calls it “fitting spiritual words to spiritual truths.” The Living Bible says it simply: “So we use the Holy Spirit’s words to explain the Holy Spirit’s facts.” Dr. Tim Jennings of Come and Reason Ministries puts it this way in The Remedy: “the very secret thoughts of God – his true nature and character of Love taught by His Spirit – expressing the life-giving truths in ways we can comprehend.”

This isn’t only for apostles. The Spirit brings to our minds the truths that fit the moment we are sharing with someone. I see it every day as I work with the members who call with their questions and concerns. As a young mother, I was constantly amazed at what came out of my mouth: wisdom and truth, spoken exactly as my child could grasp it. In church, sharing in a study class or teaching the adult class, I have felt the Spirit fill the room and bring the conversation to the things we all needed to know. This is not an uncommon thing in the life of a Christian.

But the same truths land very differently in a heart that hasn’t welcomed the Spirit. Without the indwelling Spirit, the truths about Christ, about salvation, and about the Love our Father has shown toward humanity are not welcomed. They can’t be understood without the Spirit of God in the life to bring them home to the heart and mind. They stay only words. Facts. Cold facts.

The spirit of the world filters every truth about God before it reaches the mind and heart. What a believer hears as beautiful, loving words of truth and healing, another hears as folly, of no value at all.

Without the Holy Spirit to help us see what reality really is, who we are, and our need of Christ, His sacrifice would be of no avail to our fallen race. Ellen White put it this way: “The Spirit was to be given as a regenerating agent, and without this the sacrifice of Christ would have been of no avail” (The Desire of Ages, p. 671). Without the Spirit drawing us to Christ, we would not even want to be saved. What Christ did for us would never reach our hearts without the Gift of the Holy Spirit applying the truth to them.

But every gift heaven has to give is ours for our salvation. Our only contribution to our own salvation is to accept it and place our will on the side of the Lord. We choose with our hearts and minds, and act with our will, to move in the direction the Spirit is leading.

The moment we do, we have the power: the Fires of Truth and Love from the throne of God, brought home to us by the Holy Spirit. He is constantly drawing us and supporting us as we keep choosing to follow the Lord.

Truth is a powerful knowledge. The more we dwell on it, spending time with the Lord in His Word, the more we want to. The mind-numbing fare we once fed our minds on loses its appeal. We are changing: what we like, how we spend our time. As the Fires of Truth and Love burn out the dross in our minds and hearts, we are becoming more like Him. The quality of who we are is being refined, and we live the life of joy, because joy is what Love produces.

Reflections on 1 Corinthians 2:12

“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.” (1 Corinthians 2:12, NIV)

The Living Bible says the Spirit is given “to tell us about the wonderful free gifts of grace and blessing God has given us.”

Two things stand out to me in this verse.

First, Paul sets two spirits side by side: the spirit of the world and the Spirit who comes from God. The spirit of the world is the selfish, me-first way of thinking we were all born into. Changing from one to the other isn’t a matter of squeezing out the old. It is a matter of building new pathways in the mind.

Each decision we make draws us more in tune with the spirit we have chosen to follow. Choosing to be loving feeds that pathway, and the more we use it, the stronger it becomes. The pathways we stop using are, in time, pruned away. So with each choice we are becoming more like the spirit we are following.

You are your choices. If you want to be something new, let new things into your life. All you have to do is choose them and do them. Each choice feeds a habit, and a lifetime of habits makes a character: your life, who you are.

And changing the direction of your life takes only one single choice. It’s called turning around. Head in the other direction.

Second, Paul tells us plainly what the Spirit came to do. The translations bring it out beautifully. Goodspeed says the Spirit is given “to make us realize the blessings God has given us.” Williams says, “that we may get an insight into the blessings God has graciously given us.” Phillips puts it softly: “so that we can understand something of God’s generosity towards us.”

God’s Spirit is here to open our eyes to what He has done for us. It is the Spirit’s job to bring these gifts home to us. He sets them in our hearts and minds in a way we can take hold of, until they become part of who we are.

We can know that Jesus died for us, that He became our substitute, and still hold it only as head knowledge. Head knowledge alone doesn’t heal. What heals is realizing the truth of this gift in our hearts and seeing how it touches the way we live each day. That is when the healing power comes alive in us.

Healing begins when we understand that there is power in the truth about God to heal all the damage done by the nature we were born with. This gift is our only way out of this sinful mess alive, our only escape from being destroyed by that old nature.

Dr. Tim Jennings of Come and Reason Ministries puts it this way in The Remedy: “We have received God’s very own thoughts, attitude, methods and principles – brought to us by his Spirit – so that we may understand God and all he has done for us.”

And here is the gentle part. The Spirit brings this knowledge to us as soon as we are ready to know it. He doesn’t push or hurry us, and He doesn’t hold back. He waits for an open heart, then brings the gifts home.

Reflections on 1 Corinthians 11:17

“In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good.” (1 Corinthians 11:17, NIV)

“Because your meetings create a toxic environment which causes damage and does not heal injuries, I am not going to sugarcoat the following prescription.” (The Remedy)

Paul comes right to the point. Their coming together was hurtful to the body of believers. The energy, love, and emotional currents of their meetings were not uplifting, ennobling, or even loving. There was no care being expressed for each other, and God was not being honored by their coming together to celebrate His great Love for them. Paul’s words of reproof were as kind as he could make them.

How It Should Be

When we meet with fellow believers, there is an expectation of acceptance, of being with those who share the journey you are on. Each one, in their own way and with the talents they have, is doing their part to show the Love of Christ to those within their sphere of influence. The opposition they come up against daily wears on the emotional reserves. Coming together means being with friends you can speak freely around, with no need to guard your words. Each member is there to catch up with and encourage the others. The flow of positive love and energy makes the room a place of warmth, a refreshing environment to just come and sit down, to feel the refreshing from above and from each other.

This is how it should be, but instead, the baby church had developed a toxic environment, which was causing more harm than good. The children there had not yet learned to play well together. Paul had already told them they were still infants in Christ, ready only for milk (1 Corinthians 3:1–2). The ABCs of Love still needed to be taught.

Love Is Learned

Love, loving, caring for others: this is not something we do naturally from birth. It is not innate. It must be learned, and it cannot be book learning. It can only be learned by experiencing it yourself.

We naturally move toward a love that feeds and supports the self. His Love meets that need and draws us to Himself. “We love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Maturity comes with growth and acceptance of the love we have experienced; the mature are those who have been trained by practice (Hebrews 5:13–14). Once this has occurred, you are free to choose to give that love to others.

Emotional, spiritual, or physical babies are incapable of showing selfless love. They have yet to understand what it is, or that life beyond their own little self exists. Those new to Christ must come to know His wide open, all-encompassing Love before they have the ability to show it to others. So it is no surprise that the baby church in Corinth lacked the emotional maturity to create a loving, warm environment. The entire congregation was first generation, and newly into the truth at that. There were no mentors to set the spirit of the meeting, and Paul had his hands full trying to mentor from a distance.

Someone Has to Say It

This verse is just stating the facts. Paul is letting them know that what is happening among them is not the way it should be. How can we know something is not right if no one says it, if no one shows us a better way?

Human nature is self-focused from birth. We learn to love because there is a presence in our small, unfocused little life meeting all our needs, keeping us warm, fed, and safe. All we have to do is express, in the only way we can, usually loudly and with utmost urgency, that something is not as it should be. Suddenly loving hands lift us up from our wet, hungry, messy existence, change us, make us warm and dry again, feed our little belly, and touch us with the warmth and loving energy that says, “I love you, you are safe with me.” Our world is perfect again.

Growing past this stage of life is necessary to be able to give love to others freely. We have freely received; now we are able to freely give (Matthew 10:8). Paul had to support them, show them the Love of Christ, and protect them from themselves until they matured enough to walk alone.

Reflections on 1 Corinthians 2:11

“For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:11, NIV)

The Living Bible says no one can really know “what he is really like, except that person himself.”

Just as only a person’s own spirit can truly know their mind, so only the Spirit who proceeds from the Father (John 15:26) can know the true intentions, the heart, and the understanding of the mind of God. No one knows the mind of God but the Spirit of God Himself. And this same Spirit, who knows God’s heart, comes to live in ours.

The study of ourselves is the hardest work there is to do: the ability to look into your own heart and own the real intentions that live there. This is the real work, done with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. An honest friend can point out obvious flaws, but the truth of our hearts is known only to us, if we are willing to know it, and to the Holy Spirit. “The heart is deceitful above all things… who can know it? I the LORD search the heart” (Jeremiah 17:9–10).

This is a work that cannot be done haphazardly, but in the kindness and Love that flow freely from the Father of lights (James 1:17). It is not a hard road to walk with the guidance of the Spirit. Dealing with yourself is actually less painful than spending your entire life with blinders on, tripping over every obstacle you refuse to acknowledge or look at. That is a hard way to spend a life in this hard world.

Wisdom says: own your life, flaws and all. Learn to love yourself, all parts of you, the good, the bad, and the ugly. It is much kinder to yourself to grow up into the maturity of a real saved and healed Christian than to stumble around lost and alone, bleeding from your wounded soul until life feels unbearable.

But life can be joyful, regardless of what was done to you or what you have done to yourself. All the damage can be healed. Own your life; deal with yourself. The Lord is there to carry you through all the hard places, and you will find yourself living in the Light and Joy of heaven here, now, in this world.

“Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning” (Psalm 30:5). So wake up, and enjoy your morning of truth and light.