Intellect

My 16 year old son has caused me to consider the place of intellect in my spiritual journey.  1 Corinthians 8:1 immediately comes to mind. "Knowledges puffs up, love builds up." I ask myself the question, Why would I seek deeper intellect? Motive is extremely important for me. Do I seek depth so that I can better love others and use it to lead them into a relationship with Christ or to draw them nearer to Him? So, I've meshed my ideals with the those of others to come up with some questions and conclusions. Is it about education? What credential enables someone to understand Scripture? Is a Ph.D. required? Clearly not, since some professors of theology and biblical studies use their knowledge to argue against the truth of God’s Word. What about a background in the sciences, in order to know the details of God’s creation? But some brilliant scientists conclude that the supernatural is absent from the natural world. In fact, We have the book of Acts 4:13 says, "The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures" Is education necessary to advance the Gospel? NO! To go back to the passage in Corinthians, the Corinthian culture prized education. Now, learning is obviously not inherently evil, but the problem came when they valued it above the truth of God’s Word. Advanced degrees or high I.Q. scores are not the foundations for our spiritual growth. Plus, God's wisdom can be contradictory to earthly wisdom. So does all this correlate?   Three things that I see: First, God the Father has prepared great things for us, wonders beyond the scope of our imagination or scientific discovery (Isaiah 64:4). Second, we must have the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 2:10-12). We are not left to our own limited devices—the Spirit has been given to us to enable us to know the words and deeds and character of God. Through the Spirit it is possible for us to understand spiritual truth and spiritual truth is the type of intellect we should seek. Third, we have the mind of Christ. The word mind encompasses more than just intellectual capability; it includes the motive and attitude. Philippians 2 describes Jesus’ humility and love in this way: “You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had". Here is the key to our growth in knowledge—love for others in obedience to God that reveals spiritual discernment of the indescribable love of God.  The bottom line is that we need intellect that will last for eternity.