I was reading through my Bible and I came across a verse that captured my attention.
Now, just to let you know, this is a regular occurrence... Many verses capture my attention. But! There aren't many of them that I decide to do a blog post on because I learn so much from it! This was just such a verse though.
Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature. ~1 Corinthians 14:20
This verse is loaded with so many angles to explore! I love verses and passages like these that have SO MANY applications for our lives!
As the title of this post suggests, I want to explore the dark side a little bit (and there's more on this! I'm planning on doing at least one other post!), but I also want to check out the positive aspect as well.
Ok, I'm ready to delve right in! I hope you are too. ;)
If you notice, this verse contrasts two things from each other... twice! First, there's the contrast between children and maturity - and then there's the contrast between thinking and evil.
When we read contrasts in the Bible, we usually think of one thing as good and one as bad... something you should do, and something you shouldn't do. But in the first of the contrasts (between children and maturity), it's interesting to note that it isn't always a bad thing to be like an infant! In fact, it's good to be an infant in something... That's where the contrast between evil and thinking comes in to play.
Let's look at the positive aspect of this verse first. ;) Paraphrasing, it says "Do not be children in your thinking, but be mature."
We do not want to be like children when it comes to our thinking! Have you ever noticed that children say the funniest things that totally make no sense?! It's like God gives us no sense of reason when we're young. There is no such thing as logic or a mature thought before we hit a certain age... and the younger a person is, the worse it is! Thinking is one of those things that gets better with age. As we mature, we can actually reason about things, and logically figure things out. That's how it is supposed to be! We want to have spent so much time thinking that we are mature in it, and know all about it! One of the more popular teachings among Christian circles is how we are supposed to become like children... and that's true! We need to have pure and simple faith in God like a child has... But that doesn't mean we need to not think about things or use reason! This verse is a call to use your mind in a way that glorifies God! God doesn't say that if you believe Him that you'll get a couch to sit on and have a comfortable lifestyle.... NO! We're called to get out of our comfort zones and go out in the world and work for Christ, be prepared for anything, and think like mature adults!
Ok, so on to the evil side of things... don't say I didn't warn you it was coming! Ha!
First off with this category, let's revisit the verse - "In evil be infants."
The contrast... We want to be mature thinkers - but immature when it comes to evil.
One thing about infants... they have no clue what's going on! Haha! Babies laugh at the strangest things that go on, and cry when you try to help them sometimes! If they see something, they can't really put together what's really going on. As they get older, they figure out patterns, and whatever the doctors say... they develop this and that and the other... But the thing is, as they get older, they start to know what's going on. They have a knowledge of things (Please notice how that word is underlined, italicized, and darkened - it's really important!).
So, I have another verse.
I will set no worthless thing before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; It shall not fasten its grip on me. A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will know no evil. ~Psalm 101:3
I like how this verse is so negative! Find one positive thing in there! ...There isn't. :D
The reason I like it is that it shows how EVIL is so bad that there isn't ANYTHING good with it! We should stay away from worthless things, the work of those who fall away, a perverse heart, and evil! Don't let it fasten its grip on you! Another reason I like this verse is that when you say negative things about bad things, it tends to strengthen your resolve to have nothing to do with them!
And then we have it... "I will KNOW no evil." !!! There's that underlined, italicized, and darkened word again! We not only want to have nothing to do with evil, but we want to have no knowledge of it!
And I'm tired tonight... I just finished my first day at my new job at a local hospital. :) And add to that the fact that it's after 1AM right now. I'm tired out! Well, as I said though - there is going to be at least one other post! It may not be as long as this one... I think it'll just have some more supporting verses and as many thoughts as I have about them. ;) But there is one question that I have been wondering about for a long time... And which I don't have a good answer for (at the moment! ...I'm trying to figure it out in the Bible), which is "if we are supposed to have no knowledge about evil and are to stay away from it, how are we supposed to address it when we come in contact with it in the world? And how will we know what it is if we haven't seen it before? We could see something evil going on and not even know it's evil!"
So I leave you with that thought... if you have an answer for that, please shoot me an email! I'll probably do a post on it when I figure it out (and I'll give a shoutout to you if you help me figure it out!). ;)
Until next time!
~Frisbeeman
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