Thinking - Chambers, Oswald

 . Being ready always to give answer to every man that asketh you a reason concerning the hope that is in you. 1 peter 3:15 (RV)

To give a reason concerning the hope that is in you is not at all the same thing as convincing by reason- able argument why that hope is in us. The work of the spirit of god in us transcends reason, but never contradicts it, and when a christian says the reason i am so-and-so is because i have received the holy spirit, or, i have received from god something which has made this possible, it does not contradict reason, it transcends it, and is an answer concerning the hope that is in you. The line we are continually apt to be caught by is that of argumentative reasoning out why we are what we are; we can never do that, but we can always say why the hope is in us.

Reason is the faculty of mind by which man draws conclusions. Every man is always striving after a true expression of what he is. When a man is born again, his personality becomes alive to god as the source of inspiration. Pauls words, i live; and yet no longer i, but Christ liveth in me (RV ), are the expression of the only worthy rationalism.

. The great snare is to make reason work in the circle of our experience instead of in the circle of god. As long as we use the image of our own salvation, our experience, the image of our feelings, or answers to prayer, we shall never begin to understand what Paul meant when he said, Christ liveth in me. The exercise of mans essential reason is drawing on god as the source of life. Those of us who have never had visions or ecstasies ought to be very thankful. Visions, or any emotions at all, are the greatest snare imaginable to spiritual life, because we are apt to build these things round our reasoning and go no further. Over and over again we find sanctified people stagnate, they do not go back and they do not go on; they get stiller and stiller, and muddier and muddier spiritually, not morally until ultimately there comes a sort of scum over the spiritual life, and you wonder what is the matter with them. They are still true to god, still true to their testimony, but they have never exercised the god-given reason in them and got beyond the image of experiences and gone on to draw their life from god, which transcends all we call experience. Never forget that the almighty is a great deal bigger than our experience of him; that the lord Jesus Christ is a great deal bigger than our experience of him. People wont go through the labour of thinking, consequently snares get hold of them, and remember, thinking is a tremendous labour. We have to labour to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ (RV).