A Personal Experience

A number of years ago I had an interesting experience that relates to 1 Corinthians 2. Our neighborhood was being visited by missionaries from a Christian church, and because our oldest son was serving a mission for our Church at that time, I decided to be "gracious" and invite a couple of the young women in and listen to what they had to say. I even let them come back a couple of times, as I was somewhat curious about what they believed. There was little exchange of thoughts between us, as the leader of the two was very domineering and gave little opportunity for discussion. I had hoped, especially for the sake of the quiet one (who seemed like a nice young woman), that I might be able to say something that would spark an interest in our doctrine, but after a couple of return visits, I could see that it was going nowhere. I determined that on their next visit I would bear my testimony and nicely let them know that I wasn't interested in having them come any more.

After the domineering one had expounded for a few minutes and was taking a breath, I started to express my feelings. She very rudely held her hands out (like to stop me) and started to verbally protest. The phone rang, which I tried to ignore. One of our sons came running upstairs to tell me something. Someone knocked on the door. It was a disaster. It was like some force was trying to prevent me from bearing my testimony to the truths of the Gospel.

Later that morning I sat with my scriptures, just kind of thumbing through the book while thinking about what had happened. I thought, "So much for my efforts at missionary work!" The book fell open to a spot, and for some reason I put my finger there to hold the place while I turned to another scripture I was looking for. When I went back to where my finger was, it was the second chapter of 1 Corinthians. As I read through it, it was like the Lord was thanking me for my desire and efforts, and was showing me why I had failed. Verse 14 says: "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." I wasn't trying to convince her she was wrong, but I did want to say how I felt. It was more than just foolishness to her - she wouldn't even let me say it.