Read the instructions.

Moments ago I was discussing a blog post with a close friend and my thoughts on some of the responses. My friend made use of an illustration that could not be more true regarding many who claim to be Christians, my self included.

The illustration went like this: Men, when they get something new out of the box, they often fail to read the instructions; many Christians are no different.

This could be further expounded upon in the sense that when we fail to read the instructions we end up having to back track, taking apart what we started to the point that we initially "messed up." Then, resuming our attempt at assembling whatever it is that necessitates our attention.

This illustration is oh so telling of our dealings with the Christian life. We claim to follow Christ because, maybe Jesus or a particular verse in the Bible makes us feel better or addresses some immediate need of our life. Then, we put Jesus and His Word back on the shelf when we are no longer in need only to return when we sinfully mis-assemble our life or the lives of others.

The moral of the story: consistently read the instructions (the Bible) and we will be less likely to continue having to fix this and fix that. After all, life promises us plenty of suffering and difficulty without us adding on top of it all by "shooting ourselves in the foot."

Then again, I have to wonder, if the living of our lives as Christ followers is to be for God's glory, not our own, and in service of our Lord Jesus and other people, is the moral of the story really the point? If our aim was/is to glorify God, then our relationship with him and with other people would be less fraught with sin and the need to "fix it" all the time. If our aim is simply not having to fix our lives and ridding our selves of the consequences, that seems, still, less than what God desires and, still, centered on ourselves rather than God and others.