For Truth to Become Believable

01.24.12

Luke 24.11 11 But these words appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe them. NASB

It is my firm conviction that spiritual truths are often accepted as nonsense by unbelievers. Unbelief retards the capacity of the human heart to accept truth. This is why the ministry of the Holy Spirit is non-negotiable and essential to the sharing of the truth with those to whom the Lord sends us.

The ministry of the Holy Spirit is mysterious in that we can’t explain how He enables the heart of one in darkness and death to receive light and life. How it happens is mysterious – that it happens is marvelous.

But further, unbelief also happens in the life of those who say they believe. Many who believe do not read the Scripture because it appears as nonsense to them. They try, with human understanding, to apply truth to their minds that only the Spirit of God can illumine. That’s why the prayerful invitation for the ministry of the Holy Spirit is so important when we sit down to read the Bible: Lord, help me to understand what You are teaching me that I may follow Your instruction.

Now, in the verse above, Peter and the other disciples were clueless as to what the women were saying when they returned from the tomb to excitedly tell the men what they had heard and seen. Obviously these women were overjoyed and in their excitement the words may have been less that orderly but Peter and the gang were too bummed out to be encouraged by a bunch of hysterical women.

Again, that’s why in verse 45 it says, “Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures...” It takes the power of God to make our minds understand. We cannot, in our pitiful human reasoning, even begin to roll away death and darkness in our own lives let alone in the lives of others. Only death can be conquered by life and then at the hand of the Spirit of God.

So when we pray for our children, our loved ones, our friends and neighbors – or even that guy at work who bugs the crap out of us – we must pray for the ministry of the Holy Spirit in their lives to illumine the darkness that is in them and to ask that He help them see how dark that darkness is.

Now, we must realize that when we do, we must accept that in many cases this illumination will be less than comfortable for them and that at some point it may even take a full-blown life crisis for them to get it. But we must also accept that even a full-blown life crisis, at the hand of God, is done in love and will accomplish in them infinitely more that we can hope for or imagine. We must pray for the ministry of the Holy Spirit. It’s what it took for us to believe, and it is the only thing that it will take in their lives as well.  For truth to become believable the presence of God is necessary.