RENEW | Day 12 • Next Level Thinking

Monday, October 12, 2015 Bryan Hudson 0 Comments



NOTE: Excerpt from "Renew: Principles of Change for a Better Life." Get the ebook or book and Join In this 30-Day Devotional}
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1 Corinthians 2:12-16, Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For “Who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ. 

We often hear the phrase, “Go to the next level.” We recognize the term as a challenge to go higher and be better. There are few things better than going to a higher level of thinking.

In life, we are trained to think according to educational systems, family values, cultural norms, and according to various signals received from marketing, expectations of others, and much more. Religious training (as distinct from a growing relationship with Christ) too often involves shaping one’s thinking according to traditional and non-biblical practices. Much of our educational and religious training amounts to practices and thinking which Paul attributes to “the natural man.” This level of thinking is not capable of understanding the things of God.

At the next level, we become rooted in godly and biblical realities on which to build our concepts and ideals. The strength of next level thinking comes from a relationship with the person of Jesus and the indwelling Spirit of God.

Prov. 14:12, There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. 

Thinking and reasoning on a faulty basis can have bad consequences which are not always outwardly evident. When we learn how to think on the next level, with Christ at the center, we develop a better basis for understanding life and ourselves. Life makes more sense and hope rises.

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Reflection Question: Is there anything in your culture that conflicts with the wisdom of God?

Key insight I gained today:

Today’s action item based on insight: