Electronic gadgets, especially computer software and smartphones, are reportedly meant to be ‘intuitive’, which means we are supposed to be able to fathom them without necessarily having recourse to the instructions’ manual! This may well work for some people, but certainly the danger is that we think life works in the same way! The Bible makes it plain that life is not quite that easy to fathom, and certainly one of the surprises of the Christian life is discovering that God’s ways and kingdom do not operate according to the same principles we have become used to over the years…
Brian Hardin says, ‘If you listen to the words of Jesus given in the Gospels, you become aware that he’s describing a kingdom and worldview that is different (from) the systems and cultures we’re now living in.’ Samuel D. James says ‘there is no safe corner of the Christian story that is completely intuitive or unfailingly neighbourly. Every element of the Gospel can and will grate against our modern sense of “real life”… What we must figure out is how much of real life we will look at through the lens of truth, and how much we will not.’ It’s never easy when we crash into the Gospel; it’s rather like this ‘crash test’ of a Lego Porsche, when the car is smashed to smithereens!
When we read the Gospels, we see Jesus reacting in ways that to us seem unnatural. He accepted God’s will with serenity and trust, even when that meant betrayal, hurt and even death (see Jn 13:10, 18-30, 1 Pet 2:23, Luke 4:22-30, Jn 18:2-11). We would have expected Him to instruct the eleven disciples to prevent Judas from leaving the room and therefore avoiding betrayal… or to defend Himself in the Garden of Gethemane… or to take the opportunity to flee!) Instead, we see Him reacting not with fatalistic resignation but with composure and trust. He was prepared to accept God’s will for His life, even when that meant personal hurt and loss.
When our worldview ‘clashes’ or ‘grates’ with God’s ways, we have a choice. We can either allow this brush with reality to help us to realign our thinking and behaviour with God’s or we can blunder on, thinking we know best. People can spend a lot of time ‘pressing and guessing’ with technology, too proud to read the instructions’ manual. We can be like this with life too, but God has given us guidance and help. Life is not intuitive, but God’s Word gives us guidance on how to live well.