Given, Find, and Solution or It's a Solution in Need of a Problem
29 May 2014 at 23:38 CDT
Tonight at small group, I got to thinking about the question of what holds us back from God. So I started to think in the engineers' mindset of how to tackle a problem. We teach our students to restate the provided information (Given), determine want needs to be done (Find), and then come up with a reasonable answer (Solution).
When something holds us back from God, be it power, money, fame, comfort, etc., it causes problems for us. Maybe we don't know that at first, but then we realize that there is a problem, there is a set of facts surrounding it (Given), we need to determine what to do (Find), and then we need to come up with answer (Solution). If you don't properly determine the issue and don't apply good theory and reasoning, then the answer is not satisfactory.
Conversely, we can go about things from the perspective of identifying a solution to a problem that may not even exist. What came to mind for me was wandering around in Bed, Bath, and Beyond. It's a fun store to go to look around. There are many great products that solve a real need and there are also many gadgets that seem to be a solution to a problem no one really has. Do I really need a gadget to remove the yolk from an egg when I can realize that I can use my head and my own two hands to figure this out, without spending $10 on something that I might use once a year, if that.
I'm reading a book called Stuffocation. It's about filling your life with stuff you don't really need. Do you really need to keep up with the neighbors and buy a fancy house, car, clothes, jewelry, etc? Do you want to be a slave to the bank? The priorities are all wrong. It's OK to have some stuff that you need for living and some nice decor around the house, but in the end, it doesn't make any sense to be materialistic. I've been a fan of Dave Ramsey, the financial guy, for awhile and took his class this year along with the folks from small group. It has been eye opening to see that the borrower really is slave to the lender; quit being that slave and do something about it. Less really is more.
I'm learning that it is best to let go and let God take control. Quit worrying about stuff and love people instead. Oh how I wish I could go back in time to tell myself that. But that cannot happen. What can happen is that from this point forward, I identify the problem, I figure out what to do, and then I get it done. Thankfully, I don't have to do this alone. God is there for every step of the way.
So, I will be continuing on this path and making more positive changes and sharing that journey, right here. Matt 7:7
-krl
