This brings us to our second subject—translating light into thoughts. At the time of revelation, God shines His light into man. The starting point of the ministry of the word is God’s shining and enlightening within us. The shining disappears in a moment; then we forget about it after a while. It is hard to grasp light. No one can make this fleeting light the basis of his ministry of the word. It is impossible to take this flash of light as the source of the ministry of the word. Something more is needed in order to have the ministry of the word. One needs something more in addition to light: Thoughts are needed. If a man has been dealt with by the Lord and his outward man is broken and torn down, he will spontaneously be enriched in his thoughts. Only those who are rich in thoughts are able to translate light into thoughts. Only those who are rich in thoughts are able to understand the light. A brother once said, “I must understand Greek before I can understand clearly the meaning of the word and before I can translate its meaning more clearly to myself.” In the same principle, light is God’s word. It conveys God’s will. Yet if we do not have thoughts, we do not know the meaning of the light, and we do not know the content of the light. Our thoughts must be powerful and rich enough in order to understand the meaning and content of the light. When our thoughts are strong, we capture the light, and we are able to translate it into intelligible thoughts for ourselves. We only remember the light after we have translated it into thoughts that are understandable to us. We can only remember our thoughts; we cannot remember light. Only after we have translated the light we have seen into our thoughts are we able to retain the light. Before light is transformed into thoughts, we cannot remember what the light was all about, nor can we retain the content of the light. After the light becomes thoughts which, in turn, unveil the significance of the light, we can remember the light and retain it.
Here we see the crucial significance of our thoughts, our mind, and our understanding in the ministry of the word. In learning to serve as a minister of the word, we have to realize the significance of the word mind in 1 Corinthians 14. That chapter directs our attention to the matter of prophesying. We have to pay attention to the matter of prophesying because it makes the mind fruitful. This chapter does not emphasize speaking in tongues because it makes the mind unfruitful. Verse 14 says, “For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.” Verse 15 says, “What then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray also with the mind; I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing also with the mind.” Verse 19 says, “But in the church I would rather speak five words with my mind, that I might instruct others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue.” Man’s mind occupies a crucial part in the ministry of God’s word. It is God’s intention that light reach the mind of every minister of the word.
When light shines, it first shines in man’s spirit. But God does not want this light to remain in the spirit; He wants this light to reach man’s understanding. Once light reaches man’s understanding, it will never fly away; it will be retained in us. Revelation is instantaneous; it flashes and goes away like lightning. But when this light shines and man’s mind is enlightened, the latter begins to interpret the former. Thus the light is retained, and we discover the content of the light. When light is in the spirit, it can come and go as it pleases. But once it reaches our mind and our understanding, it is retained. From that point onward, we can utilize this light. We should remember that light is unusable when it is only in our spirit; it has not become utilizable light. Before God we are a “living soul” (Gen. 2:7). If something has not reached our soul, our personality cannot make any use of it, and our will cannot control it. We are not just spiritual entities. We have a spirit, a soul, and a body. When the light of revelation is in our spirit, we cannot say that this light is ours. The light of revelation should not remain in the spirit; it must reach our outward man. The outward man cannot receive any revelation; revelation comes into our spirit. But revelation cannot remain in our spirit; it must reach our mind.
The translation of light into thoughts varies in different people. If a man is rich in thoughts, he will make a great difference in this respect. If a man’s thoughts cannot match God’s light, God’s light will suffer loss. If a vessel cannot match God’s light because of either its limitation or lack of capacity, God’s light will suffer loss. If God’s light comes to a man and his thoughts are sharp and in focus, they will retain the light. A wandering mind cannot retain God’s light, nor will distracting thoughts understand the light. You may know that light is present, yet because of distractions and unrelated burdens, you cannot translate the light you see into thoughts. Some thoughts are not wandering or unduly burdened, but they are dull. When God’s light shines on them, they do not know what it is all about. God has one basic requirement for those who serve as ministers of His word—their minds must be renewed.
The problem with many people is that their minds are active yet confused. They cannot translate God’s light; they have no way to know what the light means. Many people’s thoughts are too shallow; they are constantly paying attention to low things. They cannot retain the light or find out what God’s light means to them. God is light; light is God’s nature. Hence, God’s light is as great, as rich, and as transcendent as God Himself. When God’s light is unveiled and our thoughts are low, narrow, or confused, we will surely miss much of its shining. God has no intention of giving us small revelations. If God gives a man any revelation, that revelation is always great, and its scope and content are always rich. Anything that comes from the God of glory has to be glorious. Everyone has to admit that God’s measure to man is always an overflowing cup. God is always rich, great, and all-inclusive. The problem today is that many minds do not have the capacity to contain this light. Many people are too petty and low to contain God’s profound light. Brothers, if our thoughts are undisciplined and out of focus all day long, how can we expect to retain God’s light? If God gives us light, yet our thoughts are so low and base, how can this light be retained, and how can we translate this light into intelligible thoughts?
We must remember that the first thing the ministry of the word needs is revelation from God. Yet in order for the human element to be present in God’s word and in order for man to be a minister to God, the light of revelation has to pass through man. It has to enter man’s spirit and be translated into man’s thoughts. If our spirit is not in the right condition, we will not receive any revelation or light. On the other hand, if something is wrong with our mind, light will not reach our outward man and cannot be translated into thoughts. After light shines into our spirit, there is still a need for a strong and rich mind to translate this light into understanding and then into words. If we are pressed all day long by our own worries over such things as food, clothing, and family, and if our thoughts wallow in these things all the time, our mind does not have the capacity to meet the need. A man’s mental capacity is like his physical capacity. If a man’s arm has a capacity to lift fifty pounds of weight, he can only lift fifty pounds of weight; one more pound will become too heavy for him. Our mind has similar limitations. If our mind is occupied by other things, we cannot use it in the things of God; we will not be able to translate God’s light into thoughts. Brothers, the sooner we acknowledge our limitations, the more blessing we will receive. A vain struggle is a great loss.
Some brothers set their minds on food, clothing, family, and affairs of this world all the time. How much room is in their minds for God? Their minds are full of things already; their thoughts are pressed by too many things. Their spirits cannot receive any light. Even if their spirits can receive light, the shining will only be a vain exercise. They will still not be able to serve as an outlet of the ministry. When light shines in their spirit, they do not have a stable mind to receive the light. When light comes, only a free, powerful, and rich mind can retain this light. If our thoughts are revolving around other things, we will be in a maze, and we will not be able to come out of it. Our thoughts will never understand the light. Light has indeed entered our spirit, but it may stop there. Light must follow a definite pathway. God’s word also has its pathway; it has to go through some definite steps before it can be released as the ministry of the word. If a man wants to serve others with the word, he has to allow God’s word to come out of him step by step. If something is wrong with his mind, God’s word will remain in his spirit as light; he will not be able to translate it into thoughts.
The interesting thing is that every time light comes to our spirit, we do not know what it means or what it is saying. By the time we try to understand it and retain it, it is gone. Our minds and thoughts are not sufficient enough to understand the light. We see something, yet we do not know what we see. Many times, light has to come to us two, three, or even more times before we can capture it. If our thoughts are rich enough, we can retain the light more easily. If our mind is not burdened or occupied by other things and if our thoughts are sufficient and inclusive enough, we easily see what the light is and what it all means. All experienced ones agree that while our minds try to translate the light, this light seems to run away. Our minds have to be very quick. The quicker our mind is, the easier it is for us to translate the light. Once our mind misses, the light runs away. If God is merciful to us, the light will come back the second time. But if He does not have mercy on us, it will not come back. Sometimes we feel as if we have lost something; we feel as if something is gone. This means that our mind has not been able to function properly. Many times we feel that our mind is not quick enough. Many times we see something, and like a rescue team rushing to a burning house, we quickly try to translate the light into thoughts. If our minds are quick enough, we may catch a few things, but the rest is gone. Light does not wait patiently for us to ponder and understand. It flies away quickly. We have to snatch it quickly before it runs away.
Brothers, once you find that you cannot retain the light, you realize how useless your mind is. Before you try to engage your mind in the pursuit of God’s light, you may think that you are a very clever man. You may boast that your mind is sharp, but when God’s light needs to be translated into intelligible thoughts, you find out how poor your thoughts are. This is like the experience of interpreting for a speaker on the podium: You need to interpret for him, yet you cannot do it because the words do not come to you fast enough. When you interpret for a human speaker, he is able to wait for you to find the right words. However, light is different; it does not wait for you. If you cannot catch up with it, it flies away. I cannot tell you why this is so, yet it is a fact. You can only retain as much light as your capacity allows; what cannot be retained is lost. If light comes back a second or third time, you can thank the Lord and capture it again. But if the light does not come back, you suffer a loss, and the church suffers a loss as well. If you lose the light, the church loses the ministry.
Who decides who the ministers are? God decides. Yet if our thoughts cannot match the light, we miss our opportunity to serve as a minister. This shows how crucial our thoughts are in relation to the word of God. Many people have a foolish idea: They think that a minister of God’s word does not need to exercise his mind at all. There is no such thing. First Corinthians 14 clearly tells us that a minister of the word needs to exercise his mind. Without exercising his thoughts and mind, he cannot serve properly as a minister of God’s word.