This got me thinking about Legos. They're so cool! You can take a pile of pieces and make whatever your mind can imagine.
Blake was showing me a 3,803 piece Lego set that provides everything needed to construct the Star Wars Death Star. He couldn't believe they actually made sets that large. He was beside himself with excitement. The set costs $399.99. I told him he better save his allowance.
But, thinking more about Legos caused me to have another of those "Aha!" moments with God.
Imagine with me 3 sets of people sitting in 3 groups in 3 different rooms. I move from room to room and hand each group of people their own separate, but identical, pile of 3,803 pieces.
But, to GROUP ONE, I give the finished-product picture of the Death Star along with the step-by-step instructions.
To GROUP TWO, I give only the picture of the finished product: The photo of the completed Lego Death Star.
To GROUP THREE, I give nothing except the pile of 3,803 pieces. And...no...the groups cannot see each other.
I return after 2 hours and visit each room. And what do I find?
It's pretty predictable, actually. GROUP ONE, with the photograph and step-by-step instructions, will have completed their Death Star or they'll be pretty close to completing it.
GROUP TWO, with the photograph and no instructions, will be struggling to complete random parts of the Death Star. And...they'll likely be more grouchy than the first group.
And GROUP THREE will have made something random and "cool"; but they'll also have a whole pile of leftover pieces!! And, they'll wonder what took me so long to return!
And so it is with life...taking us out of the lecture and into the lab...
I think about how I've related to the "photograph and step-by-step instructions" (aka Jesus and The Bible) over the years.
Sometimes, I've been like GROUP ONE. I see the picture of Jesus and I open the Bible and I follow the step-by-step instructions and my life reflects Him. It isn't an easy life; but the pieces keep falling into place and I have peace in knowing that I'm moving in the right direction.
Other times, however, I'm more like GROUP TWO. I choose to try to imitate the picture without instructions. These are times that I feel the greatest amount of tension in my life, interestingly enough. I want the picture! The goal is before me! But, instead of searching for and opening the instructions, I think I'm smart enough to get there on my own. I fail repeatedly and miserably; and I feel and appear hideous.
I've also lived GROUP THREE. In my high school and college years, I didn't know about the picture and I SURELY didn't open any instructions. I just wandered around bumping into people and situations. If I found a pile of "metaphorical Legos", I grabbed some pieces and threw them together until I made something that my friends would say was "cool". Never mind that there were LOADS of left-over pieces just lying there waiting to be made into something WAY better. I didn't know about better. I thought my life was "as good as it gets". I didn't care. And I didn't look.
Like building Lego sets, I think I'm seeing that there are 3 distinct ways we can respond to The Word.
Response #1 We can ignore its existence and try to please our environment without ever knowing or believing there's a better way. This approach makes me sad because I know that God's promise in Jeremiah 29:11 to each of us individually is true when He says, "I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Response #2 We can acknowledge its existence; but believe that we don't really need it. We are strong enough to get there on our own, we think. I've lived this existence more than the others and I can testify that it's the most painful. You "just know" there's a better way; but you're not willing to sacrifice to get there. Here's what Jesus Himself taught (taken from The Message) "This story is about some of those people. The seed is the Word of God. The seeds on the road are those who hear the Word, but no sooner do they hear it than the Devil snatches it from them so they won't believe and be saved. The seeds in the gravel are those who hear with enthusiasm, but the enthusiasm doesn't go very deep. It's only another fad, and the moment there's trouble it's gone. And the seed that fell in the weeds—well, these are the ones who hear, but then the seed is crowded out and nothing comes of it as they go about their lives worrying about tomorrow, making money, and having fun." Luke 8:11-14
Response #3 We acknowledge that the Word contains both the Accurate Picture and the step-by-step instructions AND we acknowledge that just can't build anything worthwhile without Him and His Word. Guess what?? There's more to the story in Luke!! Here's how Jesus finishes the story in Luke 8:15 "But the seed in the good earth—these are the good-hearts who seize the Word and hold on no matter what, sticking with it until there's a harvest."
Want to build a super-cool Lego Death Star?
John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
1 comment:
I praise and thank God regularly that I was brought up to be closer to #3 than anything else. I had a Dad who would always ask me what I thought instead of telling me what to think.
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