Learning To Be Mighty In Spirit

I Corinthians 1:26-29
By Harold Dinsmore, M.Div.
© 2008 Harold Dinsmore

             Everyone in our country today seems to be looking for the secret to success.  We desire to know the 12 keys to success in business, in financial freedom, in weight loss, in relationships, you name it!  Anyone who can put such a program is bound to make some money by preying on our thirst for knowledge.

            Our school system has so been infiltrated by humanism that we have swallowed the intellectual pill know as knowledge = power.  This philosophical approach believes that if we just acquire enough knowledge our problems will solve themselves.

            The great challenge of our day is to grasp the concept of being mighty in spirit and to see how it differs from being dedicated to intellect.  The Bible has a different idea of whet it means to be successful in life.  We have unknowingly accepted a standard of education which hinders and destroys the potential of being mighty in spirit.  It emphasizes the idea that the highest achievement in education is to be guided by intellect.

            It has been said, “To be mighty in intellect is to judge truth by our mind.  To be mighty in spirit is to judge truth by the combination of God’s Spirit and our spirit in harmony with Scripture.”

            Now how do we do that?

            Well, in the life of every believer – every person, for that matter – there must come a time when he or she decides which will be preeminent – their mind or their spirit (God’s Spirit with their spirit).  For this reason we see Paul expressing it this way.  “Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.” I Corinthians 1:26-29