Mental assent

For years I traveled around the country teaching people about our union with Christ. I would draw a few simple diagrams on the board, trying to be cognitive and give them something to hang onto, so with the brain they could see how things work. But after a while I discovered this: brain understanding is not spiritual understanding.

That's difficult for people to grasp, because Western civilization processes things mentally. We try to grasp it with the head and get the head to tell it to the heart, instead of waiting for the Holy Spirit to tell it to the heart. If it's in the heart, we will know it. If it's in the head, we will just know about it. It's easy to get a handle on all of these union phrases and Christ-in-you clauses and get an ouline all down pat and go around talking about it. But knowing about is not the same as knowing.

Everything we truly know of God comes by revelation of the Holy Spirit. The work of the Holy Spirit is to reveal to us the reality of the mysteries of God...

Unfortunately, there's no relationship between the amount of information we accumulate and the ability to live a spiritual life. But there is a a direct correlation between the amount of information we gain and our level of frustration. It's frustrating to know about something and not be able to know it or live it. It's frustrating to know something is there and not be able to lay hold of it. It always seems elusive, like the carrot dangling in front of you that you keep chasing but can never grab...

But trying to live the Christian live through our own effort is like trying to put a cube into a spherical hole. It doesn't ft. The only One who can live the Christian life is Christ. Only His life fits the hole. But we still try to force it to work ourselves, and that becomes very, very frustrating.— The Rest of the Gospel: When the partial Gospel has worn you out, pages 121-122

<idle musing>
I have seen this over and over; people continuously confuse information transfer with spiritual maturity. The two are not the same, in fact, they are frequently at opposite ends. Think of some of the people who know the scriptures the best. Are they proud and arrogant? Or, are they humble and teachable?
</idle musing>