The Bible Is NOT Your Owner’s Manual
I am not very good at fixing automobiles. Fortunately for me, my mechanic attends my church.
Whenever one of our cars need something done, I text him. He responds with a date to come pick my car up.
Yes, you read that right! My mechanic picks up my car in my driveway! It’s even better. He leaves his car for me to drive during the day until he returns my car later that evening!
The other day after picking up my car he called and asked for the car’s owner’s manual. I told him it was in my garage. He chastised me a bit and told me to keep the owner’s manual in my car so whenever he needed it he had access to it. Today the owner’s manual is in the car.
The incident with my mechanic and the owner’s manual reminds me of a common misconception within the Christian community which hurts our spiritual growth. Often it is thought that because the Bible is God’s Word, it is similar to our car’s owner’s manual.
In our minds, the Bible is the authoritative guide to describing how we work because God, the manufacturer, developed it. According to us, it should contain all the instructions necessary to attain a high degree of spirituality. But…
The Bible is not our owner’s manual!
Although God our manufacturer inspired the Bible, the problem with comparing it to an owner’s manual is that our problem as followers of Jesus does not stem from a lack of knowledge about what God desires.
Can we really say we do not know what is contained in the Ten Commandments? Can we really say that we have not read enough of the Bible, or heard enough sermons to know what God desires of us?
Of course we can’t. Very few, if any, who are reading this, can claim ignorance as a reason for our lack of spiritual growth.
Furthermore, as followers of Jesus, we know what God desires of us through the influence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
So let’s ask a difficult question:
If we already know what God desires of us, why don’t we do what he wants?
Clearly, knowledge is not enough. It goes back to the fundamental problem we have that Jesus pointed out in the Garden of Gethsemane in Matthew 26:41, “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
When Jesus came back and found the apostles sleeping, could they really say they did not know what he wanted from them? Of course not!
It was very simple; stay over here and pray for me while I go pray alone. Granted, they did not know Jesus was about to be arrested, but still, they had no excuse for not being able to stay awake for even one hour.
They had a power problem not a knowledge problem.
The reality is we are no different from the apostles. We know what Jesus desires of us, and our spirits are willing. Mine is, and I bet yours is too.
So, then, if our intentions are good, why don’t we do all that Jesus desires? Often times, we even blatantly disobey him. What is the problem? Why would we, as followers of Jesus, continually thwart his desires for us?
Because our flesh is weak.
Ultimately, thinking of the Bible as our owner’s manual does us no good because we don’t have the power in our own strength to follow its instructions.
In the same way that you can know what is in your car’s manual and still not have the power to fix your car, you can know what God desires of you and not have the power to accomplish it.
The fundamental issue is not knowledge. Rather, the issue becomes a struggle for power. To be what God desires, we must access the power of God to bring transformation to our lives.
How do we access the power of God?…stay tuned!
