What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived - the things God has prepared for those who love him - these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. (I Corinthians 2:9-10)
I enjoy writing these Mystic Monday devotionals. And I really appreciate the emails I’ve received from many of you telling me how much you are encouraged by the wisdom of faithful followers of Jesus from so many diverse backgrounds and cultures.
A big “thank you” to Brent in Baton Rouge, who personally mailed me a copy of Thomas Merton’s book, “The Wisdom of the Desert.”
I mentioned this in one of my first Mystic Monday posts, but the reason I chose to emphasize the Christian mystics is because of the spiritual drought the church is experiencing in these days. I deeply grieve over this drought, which is so prevalent in my nation, the United States of America.
Reliance on horses and chariots has replaced faith in the name of the Lord our God. I’ve witnessed this growing shift of priorities and the growing gap between godly and worldly wisdom, and I can tell you that this sowing to the flesh is reaping corruption in the church and the lives of many.
When the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in the Greek city of Corinth, he confronted the spiritual blindness and corruption that blindness brought to those called to be God’s ambassadors and peace-makers. In the opening chapters of I Corinthians, he bluntly told them that he could not speak to them as “people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly.” (I Corinthians 3:1) In other words, their worldly wisdom and ways prevented them from understanding the ways of God.
I began this post with what many Christians think of as a description of heaven. The truth, however, is that when Paul speaks of things that no eye has seen and no ear has heard, he is referring to spiritual insight and revelation freely given to those who, in the words of Hebrews 5:14, have had “their powers of discernment trained by constant practice.” (Italics for emphasis.)
Spiritual growth and the wisdom that comes with it requires at least three things. First, church leaders who themselves are growing and seeking to grow in the ways of God’s Spirit. Leaders who refuse to be distracted by and participate in the “dead works” that so easily creep into life in the institutional church. Second, people who understand the difference between cultural Christianity and its allegiance to worldly ways and genuine discipleship, seen in the call of Christ to pick up our crosses and follow him. Third - and this is, I believe, the greatest call of God on those who recognize the spiritual drought we are in and who thirst for living water - a willingness to “go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured.” (Hebrews 13:13)
For me, personally, the decision to leave the camp of culture-bound Christianity began, in many ways, when I left the American church and began serving a diverse group of Jesus followers in Seoul, Korea. As I ended my days in Seoul and began “Church on the Edge,” that decision became public. And my posts, podcasts, and books have (as I heard somewhere many years ago) served to accomplish the role of the prophet in comforting the afflicted and affecting the comforted.
I have lost much but gained so much more. And in the words of Luba Kosachavich, a Russian Christian who was persecuted relentlessly for placing her faith in Christ above her allegiance to the Kremlin, “It has been worth it!”
The wisdom and ways of God are not hidden. Like ripe fruit, they hang in abundance from the vine. Like honey, they are sweetness to the soul and health to the body. (Ps. 16:24) And like the pearl of great price, they are worth sacrificing everything else to possess.
In Christ,
Dan
Check out my podcasts from Church on the Edge and my books on Kindle.