The Knowledge of God

Recently, I was in a Christian meeting where there was a boy in a wheelchair who was obviously quite severely disabled. I don’t know what was wrong, but his body didn’t function properly at all, and it was hard to know if he was responding to those he was with.

Then, at the end of the communion, the vicar came down to pray for him. He just laid a hand on him and prayed a brief prayer of blessing. The young face broke into big smiles, and it was very moving. In that moment, I just knew that, inside that dysfunctional body and damaged brain, there’s a precious human spirit which knows God and can receive from God’s Spirit.

Paul, who wrote today’s verses in his letter to the Corinthian Church, was a man who, in today’s terms, would have come out of the top university with a first class degree. He had been proud of his education and training, but it had led him to persecute the followers of Jesus, and he had come to realise that the most important thing was to know the crucified and risen Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 2:2). He was trying to explain to his readers that it’s through the revelation of God’s Spirit to our spirit that we can know God, and the blessings He has for us.

It’s interesting that three of the gospel writers record Jesus saying “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” (Matthew 19:14, Mark 10:14, and Luke 18:16)

Prayer: Dear Father, I come to You as Your child. Please reveal to me, by Your Spirit, more of the wonderful things You’ve done for me. Amen.