“Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—
these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.”
(1 Corinthians 2:6-16, ESV)
Sanity is a delicate thing
a fragile thing
an elusive thing
a communal thing
a spiritual thing
a multifaceted thing
an essential thing
a treasured thing.
The crisis of insanity,
the thing that makes it so
deceptive
dangerous
infectious
destructive,
is that insane people
don’t know they’re insane.
Sanity is a precious commodity, but
not something you arrive at
yourself
not created in isolation
doesn’t grow in the soil of
independence.
Since no voice is more influential in
your life than yours is,
because you never quit talking
to you,
sanity requires interruption
a pause in the unceasing inner
conversation
the challenge of another
perspective
the humility to listen to someone other than
yourself.
Insane people crave
agreement
reinforcement
validation
the comfortable echo chamber of
unchallenged perspective.
Sane people crave
to learn
value correction
esteem the exposure of the
weeds of insanity that still grow in the garden of
the heart.
Sanity is the fruit of an
unending conversation
the willingness to listen
the posture of a student
knowing you’ll never graduate
acknowledging that right around the corner lurks
insanity.
Sanity is not a state of being,
sanity is a process of becoming
always examining
always filtering
always questing to become more
sane.
True sanity is not just the product of community,
it is the fruit of worship.
Separate from the Creator,
who is the source of all things
who is the beginning and end of
wisdom
who is himself
Truth,
human rationality will end in
irrationality.
What is unreasonable will seem
reasonable
what is foolish will seem
wise
what is evil will present itself as
good.
Remember long ago,
supposedly sane religious leaders
thought it was
the wisest and best thing
to strategize together
to murder the Messiah.
Apart from the interruption,
the intervention
the confrontation
the perfect logic of the
revelation of God,
human rationality will march toward
irrationality.
Sanity doesn’t generate first in the halls of
academia,
it begins with a needy
convicted
illumined
humble
seeking heart.
Bended knee is the constant posture of the
sane.
Confess the pottery shards of insanity that still
live in your heart;
know that perfect sanity is your redeemed
destiny.
The One who is the source of everything that is
sane,
with the hammer of eternal truth,
will crush insanity’s reign.
Until then,
keep your heart humble
keep your knee bended
consume God’s revelation
be a willing student
be thankful for divine interruptions
and remind yourself again and again
that sanity is not an independent achievement
but a priceless gift of
divine grace.
God bless,
Paul David Tripp
Reflection Questions
1. How have you been blind to your “gospel insanity” in the past? In other words, identify a season of life (however short) when your conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, and you didn’t even see or realize it.
2. How was your “gospel insanity” exposed? How did God reveal your blindness? What was your immediate reaction? Were you defensive and self-righteous?
3. In what ways today might you still have pockets of spiritual blindness, and moreover, be blind to that blindness? Have you been trying to deflect the conviction of the Holy Spirit? Have you been ignoring the honest, loving, and probably imperfect confrontation of another person? If you have been blind and “insane” in the past, might it be possible that you are experiencing it in a new or different way?
4. How often and easily are you willing to listen to the criticism of someone else? Is your posture that of humble student, eager to learn, or do you have a posture of spiritual arrogance, thinking that in many ways, you have graduated to gospel maturity and sanity? If bended knee is the constant posture of the sane, how can you bend your knee in humility this week? Be specific in your answer.
5. Who do you know who is living in a state of “gospel insanity”? How can you confront them, honestly yet gently, firmly yet patiently? What bias or selfish motive do you need to clear from your own heart before approaching them? Why is it unloving to let a spiritually blind or gospel insane person continue down the path of their own foolishness? Have you been selfishly avoiding interaction because you don’t want uncomfortable conflict?
