John 3:12 A New Perspective

John 3:12 “I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?” (NIV)

I was working on a sudoku puzzle earlier this week. It was about a medium-to-hard difficulty, so I  was having a rougher time trying to solve it.  As I worked at it I realized that I was thinking linearly and to solve this one I need to think more circuitously.   After a while, towards the end of the puzzle, I again realized that I needed to change my approach. I needed to go back to the more linear thought process to complete the puzzle.  I was struck by inspiration! We need to approach more than just puzzles with various thought processes! We should also approach our relationship with God with malleable thought processes!

God never acts as we could predict.  When Christ approached John the Baptist, it was not to call “Follow me” as He did to the other disciples, rather it was to ask to be baptized by John.  When we look back at that even, we realize that Jesus knew that John had already been following Him all his life! When Jesus went to the wedding in Cana, it was not to show His power over nature, but rather to celebrate with His earthly parents and disciples. The wine ran out however, and Jesus mother, Mary, asked Him to do something about it. Jesus refused but Mary commanded the servants to obey Him anyways.  When we look back at it, we learn that for Mary to have authority over the servants of the house, indeed for Mary to even know that the wine was all gone, she must have been on very good terms with the bridegroom's family, so it must be someone that Jesus knew very well, a cousin perhaps, or maybe a relation of Mary's, or even a half-brother! Secondly we see that He showed His love for His family, Mother, and whomever was getting married. Thirdly we see that He had compassion on all at the party.  This miracle was to be kept quiet and not announced to the world like many of Jesus later miracles which were hard to keep quiet (such as the blind seeing, the lame walking, the lepers healed, and demons driven out). No one would notice the wine still flowed, except that it was perfect wine!  Thirdly, the stories and parables that Jesus taught with seemed at first to be very basic and straightforward, but as you study them they become deeper and more fraught with meaning every time. 

When we study God's word and our approach to learning more about Him, we need to be willing to change our thought process as we discover new things, rather than trying to force the new ideas into the firm structures our mind has created.  If we are so very strict with our mind and how we look at scripture we can never learn very much or progress very far in our walk with Christ, because we restrict what He has to teach and show us. In essence we box our understanding of God up and do not accept anything that doesn't fit into that box.

In short, we should approach with the same approach that Sherlock Holmes used in his investigations. “...I never theorize before I obtain all the facts. I have said so over and over again, that solving cases is a matter of eliminating the impossible – and then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”  We should be willing to change how we relate to God, how we approach God, how we learn from God, and how we are to serve God depending on the facts, no matter how improbable they may be.  I do offer this caution though, be careful in taking this idea to far. It is merely an attempt at aiding the mind in learning about God.

So this week, lets try bringing a fresh approach at our walk with God. If we normally start our day with a bit of prayer then reading, try singing a hymn first before reading. Or perhaps pray and read instead of singing a hymn if that is what you do.   If you normally learn about God by reading a devotional, try leaving the devotional behind and read a chapter from a theologian instead. In all cases read the Bible.  I would love to hear what you learn!