Read the manual
When the big box from Amazon containing my “adult” tricycle arrived, I was so excited! I watched as Tom opened the box, started pulling out the contents and laying out the many parts and pieces. With each new piece or part pulled out of that box, I took a step back until I was completely out of the garage. Putting this thing together was going to be a chore.
Fortunately, the trike came with a manual and Tom found a video on YouTube. So, the chore began. From time to time, I looked in on him to find him consulting the manual or could hear him listening to the video. During one break, he mentioned he’d had to do several things over as the directions weren’t that clear or the video didn’t cover a few of the steps. Thank goodness for that manual and for Tom who understood that the proper assembly of the trike was very important if it was going to fulfill its purpose. I mean it wouldn’t be pretty if I started riding down the street and the wheels fell off, right? Or what if the gears or brakes failed because he hadn’t followed the instructions? Yikes!
You know this preaches, right? We have a manual for life and it’s called the Bible. So often we jump into the middle of the manual or the back of the manual without understanding there is an order, a proper way to approach the manual for life. As such, we don’t get too far down that road of life before our wheels come off and we wonder what happened. What happened is we didn’t consult the manual, we winged it or we decided what came before wasn’t all that important to know. We determined we knew better than the designer, manufacturer, and manual maker. Other times, we consult the manual, we think we are following its instructions, but things don’t work. In further consulting the manual, we come to realize we didn’t fully understand the directions. If we are going to get this right, sometimes we need a little extra tutoring.
At one point, Tom was stumped. So, he took the trike to a local bike shop where they showed him what to do. That’s the same with us as we seek to understand the manual of life. Sometimes we need someone who has more experience in using God’s Word than we do and who can help us understand and follow the manual’s instructions. Why? So we are able to fulfill our purpose and design.
Let’s say we are the trike and God is the designer and manufacturer of trikes who places us in this world…with a manual that explains how we fit together, in what order, how we are to function based on our design and fulfill our purpose for being placed here. If we follow the assembly instructions, we work. If we don’t follow the assembly instructions and wing it, we break down. Sure, some trikes decide to do their own thing. They take God’s design and what He has manufactured and customize it to their own standards.
Sweet friends, God’s manual is amazing for in it is everything we need for life. I am no expert, but I am here if you want to know more about using this manual for life which is God’s Word. You will be blown away. You’ll wonder why you didn’t consult the manual earlier. You’ll find things in the manual you never realized were there! You’ll discover that you were made to do things you never dreamed possible and that the One who designed you has plans for you that you cannot begin to get your mind around.
