Luke 9:55

Jesus knows when we do not know what we think we know. People are not often helped by our opinions, but they can be encouraged by our faith.

Sometimes I am fearful because we can be so certain of what we think we know that we stop listening to, and learning from, God. This is a great danger for us preachers, and it is no different for anyone else who lives under the Christian Banner. We can forget what manner of spirit we are of.

I wonder if God sometimes wants to say to some of us, what He said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam when they were of a conflicting spirit: “I want to see you in my tent, now!” Would He remind us that we may live in this world, but we are not of it, that while others are fighting the war of “Being Right,” we should be living the “More Excellent Way” of Love.

“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”

The world does not need our vain thoughts added to the pile. They need to see in us that God knows all that is going on and He cares. We can know and trust Him.

“Ask ye what great thing I know,
That delights and stirs me so?
What the high reward I win?
Who’s the name I glory in?
Jesus Christ, the Crucified.”

“But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of.” Luke 9:55