Today's Devotion: 1 Corinthians 2:11 (New International Version) For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

Verse 14 goes on to say: 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.

Today's Comments: In my History of Theology Class, we have been talking about St. Anselm. He was one of the first to start developing a systematic theology for the Middle Ages. He attempted to provide rational proof for the existence of God. His philosophical premise stated that since mankind can have no other thought greater than that of God, then God must exist. Yet, in the spirit of the verses above, it was not his rational proof that provided evidence so that he could have faith in God; it was his faith that brought him to reason: He believed so that he might understand. So, like the man who recognizes the Spirit within him, we must believe so that we might understand.