Are You Open-Minded?

People of the world say that being open-minded is a sign of something good. A sign of intelligence, even. Well, if you'd seen open-minded people from a counsellor's chair you might just change your mind. 

Most people aren’t aware that the term open-minded comes from the Hebrew term for empty-headed. It describes someone who is so lacking in wisdom that s/he is unable to discern between good ideas and bad and is therefore accepting of all ideas.

In Luke 24:25 the account is told how after His resurrection, Jesus came along side two men who were walking on a road that led to a town call Emmaus. It was about 10kms from Jerusalem. Without recognizing that Jesus was in their midst (after all, who rises from the dead?) the men spoke of Jesus' crucifixion, death and and His missing body. They were puzzled because even as many Jewish people today, these men believed that Jesus, the Messiah would come as a political leader of Israel. They believed He would come in power with armies to overthrow their oppressors.

Jesus explained to these two men all that had been said about Messiah in ALL of the Old Testament and showed them that they were just plain wrong about the appearance of the Messiah. Well, as many people know, once we believe one thing, it’s very difficult to accept that we are wrong and begin to believe another. That is why “Jesus opened their minds so that they might understand what He’d been saying.”

Reality is, without God opening our minds to His reality, understanding the Bible is, as one person put it, like reading a sundial by the light of a quarter moon. Only the Spirit of God can open our minds to understand what the Scripture is saying. In fact, not understanding the core message of the Bible is a sign that we are on our way to hell.

“The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.” 1^st Corinthians 1:18; 2:14.