My Spirit and My Mind

Day 233: 1 Corinthians 14:1-17

“What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also.” - 1 Corinthians 14:15 ESV

Everything we do in a worship service needs to engage the mind. At no point does Paul encourage us to turn off our mental faculties and "let the Spirit lead" as we enter into spontaneous confusion.

For centuries, Hinduism has been preaching the importance of emptying our minds of all things to achieve nirvana, the highest spiritual state. Mind-zero isn't the goal of the Christian.

Sure, we engage our spirits (our deep breaths) with excitement and passion, but if our minds remain untapped, our experiences lack portability or substance. We will have nothing to translate into our actual lives as we try to shine bright in this world.

All of this teaching on tongues and prophecy may be confusing. Still, we have to remember how crucial it was to the early church, where the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) wouldn't be written for another ten years after Paul wrote this first letter to the Corinthians in around 53 AD.

What a blessing to be able to read the completed New Testament, to fill our spirits and minds to the brim as we burst forth in thoughtful and soul-refreshing praise.

"Rational prayer is not less spiritual than irrational." - C.K. Barrett