"Debate....................."

While last night’s mid-week Bible study was probably some of the best teaching this old man has ever sat under in my more than four decades with this bunch, there was a place during the last few moments where we could have turned it into a debate. Our teacher centered us the twelfth chapter of Romans, entitling the lesson “Life Swap” and surprising me, initially, with his definition of our being “transformed by the renewing of (our) minds”. With human nature remaining human nature, any change in us, he suggested, was not acquired by effort on our part, but by now, instead of just following our own reasoning as we’ve always done, doing our best to hear the reality of the Spirit’s voice within us. Surprised to hear Pentecost put it in such terms, I actually probed him to ensure I was hearing it correctly; and then, toward the end, interjected Isaiah 30:15 as grounds of our need to frequently return to that inner oasis if we are to know its overflow manifested in our journey. As it was, my words prompted the fellow seated in front of me (a good friend whom I think of as “having had his Baptist roots dipped in Charismatic theology” and who seems to view me in terms of “old-time holiness swimming in heresy) to “rebuke”, somewhat, what he considered to be akin to “better felt than telt”. To him there is no prerequisite for a believer to wait for unction since each of us hold title to “the mind of Christ”. To me there is reason to find balance in both approaches, thirsting to know the anointing, but willing to take the next step without fear, responding to His tug on the anchor-line. As I once told a preacher who concluded a Sunday school lesson with the stipulation that it was impossible for two people to witness to others if they don’t hold identical theologies, though, “Give him to me. We’ll just talk Jesus, knock on doors, and have a cup of coffee together afterwards to discuss our differences.” Whether one positions “the mind of Christ” in their head or in their “belly” is optional. Truth, black and white truth, is not. When class was over, my buddy and I amiably tossed the issue around a few minutes, shook hands, and went home to let the Holy Ghost continue to work in our life. “Argument” doesn’t have to include anger. It just depends on which well feeds the conversation. Living water works wonders……