Incompatible Operating Systems

As a child of the eighties and a teen of the nineties, I’ve seen computers come a long way. My Granny was one of the only people I knew who had a computer in the late eighties and early nineties, and I was awed by the math and geography games I could play on it. To start the computer, Granny had to insert two different rigid floppy disks with the adeptness of a DJ, then wait for the computer to read one disk, translate it to the other side, and slowly warm up. On that old machine, I wrote stories and first imagined myself a real-life writer. I would love to be able to show my kids the games I played on that computer. Unfortunately, my modern-day laptop would have no way of understanding how to read one of those rigid floppy disks any more than I could converse with you in an ancient runic language. There’s gold in there, but I can’t access it or share it. If you know Jesus, as you grow in your understanding of Scripture, you may find yourself in a similar situation. All around you, you’ll see people struggling and despairing of hope, while you have a sure hope you can stand on, even when life is really hard. And that sure hope comes from Jesus. As you abide in Him and study His Word, you enjoy blessings like peace and wisdom. You ache to translate the riches you’ve discovered to people in such need, but it seems their operating systems are so dissimilar to yours, there’s no way to communicate. Ah, but with Jesus, there is always hope. God “wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). God’s wisdom can only be revealed by His Spirit. He opens doors no one else can open, making it possible for people to understand the truth—to put their trust in the good news of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. As Jesus’ forgiven followers, we have His Holy Spirit inside us, who guides us as we seek God through Jesus. He knows what words and actions will be able to translate His love to different people. As Christians, we have the mind of Christ that can bridge those gaps and get truth to those desperate for it. And God promises to give wisdom freely to anyone who knows they lack it and simply asks (James 1:5). So let’s ask, then share. • Rebekah Dorris • Jesus is the source of true wisdom, and, if you know Him, He lives in you through the Holy Spirit. How might this knowledge affect the way you share the gospel? so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power. 1 Corinthians 2:5 (NIV)