People often ask me, “What is the biggest
difference between living in America and living in the Middle East?” And while
there are certainly some big differences, most of the difference comes from the
accumulation of a lot of little things—things that you don’t even know to think
about until you experience them. Take power outlets, for instance. Pictured
below is a contemporary standard outlet in America.
Until I traveled outside the United States,
it never occurred to me that any other kind of power outlet existed (other than
the two-pronged version found in older houses). Turns out, there are a lot of
different types of outlets across the world, including here in the Middle East,
where the outlets look like this:
Growing up, I became familiar with outlet
adapters from staying at my grandparents’ where we had to use them to convert
our three-pronged plugs into two-pronged ones, so having to use adapters for my
phone and computer chargers when I moved to the Middle East wasn’t that foreign
of a concept. But it isn’t just the plugs and outlets that are different.
The voltage is different too. So it doesn’t
matter whether the plug fits in the outlet if the voltage capacity of the
device doesn’t match the voltage coming from the outlet. In that case, the
device either won’t turn on, or it will fry. To fix the problem, you need a
voltage adapter as well as an outlet adapter to help convert the electricity
into something that the device can handle.
While it may not be a perfect analogy, thinking
about all these adapters made me think about the spiritual adapters we need in
our lives. God’s Word, the Bible, is like an outlet adapter. We come to it in
our fallen humanness and through it are able to encounter God, the Power
Source. As the primary means by which we learn about God, the Bible is one of
the main ways that we become connected to Him.
But not everyone who reads the Bible
understands what they read or receives strength and encouragement from it. I’m
reminded what Paul wrote about preaching God’s Word: “we preach Christ
crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who
are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of
God” (1 Corinthians 1:23-24, ESV). To some the Gospel and God’s Word is
a stumbling block or folly instead of the power and wisdom of God. So what
makes the difference?
God’s Word is powerful on its own, yes and
absolutely (see Isaiah 55:11 and Hebrews 4:12), but there is a means by which
the power of God’s Word is effective, and that is the Holy Spirit. The Holy
Spirit is the One through whom the human writers of the Bible were divinely
inspired (see 2 Peter 1:21 and Acts 4:25). And the Holy Spirit is the One who
equips human readers to understand the truth that they read.
So If God’s Word is like the outlet
adapter, the Holy Spirit is like the voltage adapter. Without the aid of God the
Holy Spirit, we are not able to handle the power coming from Him as the Power
Source. But the Holy Spirit, our Helper (see John 16:7), equips us to handle
the power of receiving and processing the Word of God.
Before Jesus, God the Son, was crucified,
He told His disciples that there was much more they had yet to hear and
understand: “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear
them now” (John 16:12, ESV). When and how would they be able to bear
them? We find the answer in the next verse: “When the Spirit of truth
comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own
authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the
things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and
declare it to you” (John 16:13-14, ESV). With the help of the Holy
Spirit, the disciples would be able to bear the truth without crumbling under
its weight. In the same way, with the help of our Voltage Adapter, the Holy
Spirit, we are able to bear the incoming power of the truth of God’s Word. He
enlarges our capacity to receive what God the Father has to give us.
So how are you trying to live your life as
a Christian? Are you dragging along without much power? Does God seem distant
and disconnected? If you feel as if you never hear from God or experience His
power in your life, try asking yourself if you’re really utilizing your Outlet
Adapter (the Bible) to plug into God’s very thoughts and words delivered to you
in writing. And if you’ve got your Outlet Adapter securely in place, but you
still feel like you’re disconnected from the Power Source, be sure to plug into
your Voltage Adapter (the Holy Spirit) before, while, and after you read. Ask
Him to give you the understanding, to guide you into the truth, and to help you
internalize and live out what God Almighty, the Power Source, has delivered to
you in His Word.
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