Instructions

This is all hypothetical and did not really happen.

I bought a new piece of equipment and it stated assembly required. There was an instruction booklet inside, but as I went through the box, I saw it and throw it away. In my mind I figured what could be so difficult to assemble this thing and then to run it. 

I took the item out of the box, parts lay across the floor, screws, bolts, large pieces and little pieces and I start to assemble it the way it looked like in the picture that was on the front of the box. I got it all done and yes I had a few extra screws, an extra part that I couldn't tell where it went in the picture, but I figured it wasn't necessary anyhow, if I can't see it who needs it. I looked at the picture and looked at what I had created and it looked the same and I figured I was good to go. I took the cord out of the box, I plug it into the socket on the machine and then plug it into the wall, I heard a pop and a sizzle, but nothing happened, it didn't do what it was suppose to do. The item that I had assembled looked right, but it didn't work. I than take the item I had made and since it didn't work I put it on the shelf, I figure it wasn't meant to work after all, that it would take to much effort to fix, to do it right and so I give up on it all together. 

Our Christian lives are much like that. It is easy to make us look right, we play the part, we know what to say, we look right, but we do not work, because we missed the most important part. We didn't read the instructions, we didn't read the manual, the Bible. We didn't continue to read it to figure out other areas it covers. Than we get tired of trying and we place our walk on the shelf, because without God we can't do it, without His word we struggle and grow tired, because all human efforts will fail, but through Him we will grow and learn. 

The Bible isn't just a manual or instruction booklet, but a guide to help us through marriages, through difficult times in our lives. And then God has given other people wisdom in dealing with area's of the Bible that we can apply to our lives today. It comes down to a choice to actually continue to read the Bible, to learn, to grow and to change the way God has intended. If you are tired and frustrated and don't know what God is saying to you, how much time are spending in His word and other things? God gives people words, He gives people ability to write for a reason.

Isn't it time that we start relying on God and not on what we know? God knows how everything is to fit together, how things are to work, it takes doing it God's way for it to work.