Listen "Unbelieving Bewilderment"
Episode Synopsis
Are you familiar with the idiom, “like a deer in (the) headlights”?
I found this definition on the internet:
“In a state or manner of paralyzing surprise, fear, or bewilderment.
Likened to the tendency of deer to freeze in place in front of an oncoming vehicle.”
It is relatively easy and common for those of us who are Christians to be baffled by how blind unbelievers are to the good sense found in what we believe. For example, tell them that the God who created them loves them more than they will ever know and the chances are you’ll get some measure of that “deer in the headlights” look.
Why is that? The apostle Paul explains it perfectly. Listen to how he contrasts the experience of the Christian over against that of an unbeliever.
12 “Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things that are freely given to us by God. 14 The unbeliever does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. And he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.” 1 Corinthians 2:12,14 (NET)
So whenever you visit with an unbeliever, don’t be surprised at how little understood what you hold dear is to them. Be wise. Realize that until they have the same Spirit of God that you have, you are a bewilderment to them and what you say sounds like foolishness.
I found this definition on the internet:
“In a state or manner of paralyzing surprise, fear, or bewilderment.
Likened to the tendency of deer to freeze in place in front of an oncoming vehicle.”
It is relatively easy and common for those of us who are Christians to be baffled by how blind unbelievers are to the good sense found in what we believe. For example, tell them that the God who created them loves them more than they will ever know and the chances are you’ll get some measure of that “deer in the headlights” look.
Why is that? The apostle Paul explains it perfectly. Listen to how he contrasts the experience of the Christian over against that of an unbeliever.
12 “Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things that are freely given to us by God. 14 The unbeliever does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. And he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.” 1 Corinthians 2:12,14 (NET)
So whenever you visit with an unbeliever, don’t be surprised at how little understood what you hold dear is to them. Be wise. Realize that until they have the same Spirit of God that you have, you are a bewilderment to them and what you say sounds like foolishness.
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