The key to spiritual understanding isn\u2019t intellect; it\u2019s obedience. If I want scientific knowledge, intellectual curiosity is my guide. But if I want insight into the teachings of Jesus Christ, I can only get it by obedience. If what Jesus taught is dark to me, I can be sure that there is something I will not do. Intellectual darkness comes through ignorance. Spiritual darkness comes because there is something I don\u2019t intend to obey.<\/p>\n
No one ever receives a message from God without instantly being put to the test. We fail the test by disobeying, and then we wonder why we haven\u2019t progressed spiritually. \u201cIf you are offering your gift at the altar,\u201d Jesus said, \u201cand there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, . . . first go and be reconciled to them\u201d (Matthew 5:23\u201324). Our Lord\u2019s teaching hits us where we live. We can\u2019t stand before Jesus for a single second without our hypocrisy being revealed. His Spirit lays bare the spirit of self-justification that resides within us. He educates us down to the scruple, making us sensitive to things we never thought of before.<\/p>\n
When Jesus brings something home to you through his teaching, don\u2019t shrug it off. If you do, you\u2019ll become a religious hypocrite. Examine the things you\u2019re shrugging off now, and you\u2019ll know why you aren\u2019t progressing spiritually. Obey what God tells you to do, even if others might call you fanatical, and you will gain the understanding you seek. When God says go, go<\/em>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The key to spiritual understanding isn\u2019t intellect; it\u2019s obedience. If I want scientific knowledge, intellectual curiosity is my guide. But if I want insight into the teachings of Jesus Christ, I can …<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":2154,"template":"","collection":[],"class_list":["post-2640","modern-classic","type-modern-classic","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/utmost.org\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/modern-classic\/2640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/utmost.org\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/modern-classic"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/utmost.org\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/modern-classic"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/utmost.org\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/modern-classic\/2640\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utmost.org\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/utmost.org\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"collection","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utmost.org\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/collection?post=2640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}