Young People’s Blog

“If any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know” (1 Corinthians 8:2).

Here is one last verse about pride. True knowledge makes us humble, because the more we know, the more we realize how much we do not know. This is especially true in spiritual things, where the whole body of truth God has revealed to us is so vast that even the most knowledgeable person knows only a small part of it. Even in scientific circles, those who know the most are usually the most humble, for they realize how much they do not know.

If we are proud of our spiritual knowledge, as were some of those in Corinth, then we have not learned anything in the right way. Paul has to remind them that rather than being impressed with their own knowledge, they needed to realize that God loved them, and that He (God) knew them. When we enjoy God’s love, we are not thinking about our knowledge, or about ourselves, but about God Himself, and that He knows us.

“When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom” (Proverbs 11:2).

Today we have another verse about pride, and how it eventually brings shame. Why does pride bring shame? Shame comes because a proud person does not want to admit that he/she is wrong. But no matter who we are, sometimes we are wrong. Then, when we are not willing to admit our wrong and apologize, we bring shame on ourselves. Maybe we have been boasting about ourselves and our knowledge, but then someone comes along who knows more than we do, and we are shamed in front of them.

It is much better to be humble, and to realize that none of us knows everything. When we are always ready to learn from others, we get wisdom, as our verse says.

“For who maketh thee to differ from another? And what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7).

Some people have a great deal of athletic ability. They may be very good at playing games like football and basketball, doing gymnastics, or running races. Others do better at school, and perhaps become the valedictorian for their class because they have the best grades. Others are good at working with their hands, and can paint beautiful pictures, or use tools to build things like nice pieces of furniture. Some people have very good minds, and can figure out difficult math problems.

Whenever we have a particular ability, it is tempting to be proud of it. But our verse today reminds us that God gave us that ability; we did not get it ourselves. We can be thankful for the skill that God has given us, but to be proud about it is the wrong response. Rather we should give the Lord all the glory, for it is He that created us that way.

“He hath made everything beautiful in its time…so that man findeth not out from the beginning to the end the work that God doeth” (Ecclesiastes 3:11 JND).

I am sure that most of you have heard an insect called a cicada sing in the summer. On hot summer days its noise is very loud, rising to a higher pitch, then gradually falling off. When many of them sing at the same time, the noise tends to scare some people.

Did you know that in northern climates, those cicadas live underground for as long as 17 years before coming up above ground to fly around and sing only for a few weeks? In southern climates, they may live underground for only 13 years. In both cases they feed by attaching themselves to the roots of large trees and sucking out nutritious liquid.

But how do all those cicadas know when it is time to detach themselves from their tree roots and dig their way up to the surface? Scientists freely admit that they have no idea. But God has made those cicadas so that they count the years accurately, and then millions of them come to the surface almost at the same time.

God has indeed made everything beautiful in its time, even if it takes 17 years!

“And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able” (1 Corinthians 3:1-2).

We are all familiar with babies, and how they grow best by drinking milk. However, we would be very disappointed if that baby grew bigger, and still wanted nothing but milk. Having nothing but milk is not a balanced diet for a growing child. It needs solid food.

It is the same for us as Christians. When we are first saved, we are like babies, and need very simple spiritual food. We need first to learn the basics of Christianity. However, the Lord expects us to grow, and to be able to take in and enjoy the deeper things of the Lord. Being able to understand “the deep things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:10) makes us strong Christians, and able to walk well in this world. Sad to say, many Christians today are content to know only the simple things of Christ, and have no appetite for the deeper truths that are in God’s Word. There are many treasures in God’s Word, and we should all be willing to spend the time learning more about them.

“Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season” (2 Timothy 4:2).

In our area we get a lot of “scam calls” on our phones. They come anytime during the day, and last night our phone even rang with a scam call at 4:00 a.m.! Although it is often the same message, they come from many different phone numbers, all over the world. Obviously, it is a good business, and they make a lot of money from unsuspecting people.

In our verse today, Paul tells Timothy to use every available opportunity to preach the word. Are we as diligent in preaching the gospel as these scammers are in trying to steal money from people? I do not mean that we should be phoning people all the time, and especially not in the middle of the night. But do we use every opportunity we have to tell others about Christ? It is something all of us Christians need to think about.

“But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery…which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Corinthians 2:7-8).

The princes of this world—the Jewish leaders, and those like Pilate, the Roman governor—crucified the Lord Jesus, thinking they could get rid of Him that way. They did not realize that it was God’s way of bringing salvation to this world. They did not realize that He would rise again from the dead.

But suppose they had known what God was intending to do: our verse today says that they would not have crucified the Lord Jesus. But would they have released Him for the right reasons? No! Rather, their minds would have been so contrary to God’s plans, that they would have deliberately done the opposite, just to go against God’s purposes. Man’s natural heart is wicked, and another verse tells us that “the carnal [natural] mind is enmity [hatred] against God.” You can find this verse; it is in the book of Romans.

We can be thankful, on the Lord’s day, that God’s purposes were carried out, and that we can now enjoy salvation through what our Lord Jesus Christ did on the cross.

“The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14).

When we speak to those who are not saved, we should not be surprised if they do not understand what we are saying. As our verse today says, the things of the Spirit of God are foolishness to them. They are not indwelt with the Spirit of God, and cannot understand the things of God.

But does this mean that we should not tell them about Christ? Is it no use to speak to them about the things of God, when they cannot understand? No, we should speak to them about Christ, and their need of a Savior. However, we must also recognize that only the Lord can begin a work in their hearts, and give them the faith to believe the gospel. We should always be ready to tell others about Christ, for the Lord can use what we say to bring them to Christ.

“For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called” (1 Corinthians 1:26).

“And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto His disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!” (Mark 10:23).

Several months ago, I was speaking to a brother in Christ who preaches the gospel in another country. He remarked to me, “We preach the gospel to everyone, but it seems that only the poor people respond and come to Christ.” Sadly, this is true, and the Bible tells us this. Many who are rich in this world are not interested in coming to Christ. They are too busy enjoying the pleasures of this world.

However, I knew one rich man who said, “I am glad for the letter ‘M’”! Why did he say that? It was because, in our first verse today, it does not say, “Not any mighty,” or “Not any noble.” It says, “Not many.” We can be thankful that there are some who are mighty, noble and rich in this world, who come to Christ.

“I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil” (Romans 16:19).

Here in the last chapter of Romans we have some advice that is good for every one of us. Since we still have an old sinful nature, even as Christians, it is easy for us to want to know all the details of the evil in this world. When someone has sinned, even a fellow believer, sometimes we want to know all about it. We can even say that we want to know so that we can pray about it more intelligently!

However, it is much better to be occupied with good, and to be simple about evil. Yes, sometimes we do know details of evil, and sometimes the evil is so evident that we cannot help knowing about it. However, our minds should, if possible, be thinking about what is good, and not about evil. The Holy Spirit never occupies our minds with evil unless it is absolutely necessary, and even then, we must remember that evil does not feed our souls with Christ. Our minds, our conversation, and our outlook in life should always be about something good, if it is possible.