Tuesday, October 26, 2010

The Rubik's Cube Gospel



I have distinct memories as a child of watching my father working on rubik’s cubes. Now for those of you who are part of the XBOX 360/Nintendo Wii generation, a rubik’s cube is a toy that is a mental puzzle. The challenge and objective of the rubik’s cube is to twist and turn the blocks around till each side of the cube is a solid color. Only when each side is a solid color at the same time is the puzzle completed.

My dad was incredible at the rubik’s cube. It is unbelievable. He must have had a class during college called “Rubik’s Cube 101″. Of course like most little boys, I wanted to be just like my Dad, so I naturally wanted to conquer the rubik’s cube.

I found out quickly that I was biting off more than I could chew. I found out that the rubik’s cube is really difficult. I was terrible at it. At times, I was luckily able to get one of the colors aligned just right, but every other side would be completely jacked up. So to fix the other sides, I would have to mess up the side I actually got right. On the other hand, I would be absolutely amazed at how easy and seemingly effortlessly my dad could master a rubik’s cube.

As I starting thinking more about my rubik’s cube experience more, I started realizing that the rubik’s cube had a lot of similarities to my walk with God.

How many of you can say that you have this whole “life-with-God-thing” completely figured out? I know I can’t. At times I feel like I cannot get anything right, much less understand the full complexity of God. As I have grown in my relationship with God, I feel like sometimes I have actually figured something out about life with God (like getting one side of the rubik’s cube correct), but everything else still seems to be unclear (the rest of the rubik’s cube is still wrong). And it seems to figure those things out, I have to break down what I feel like I do have a grasp on.

Does that make sense?

I wish that there was just one answer to the question: What is life with God all about? That would look like a rubik’s cube with only one color, but God (and the rubik’s cube) is not that easy.

The Charlie Hall song “One Thing” beautifully states, “All of life comes down to just one thing…and that’s to know you, Oh Jesus, and make you known.” I always found that song ironic because all of life comes down to one thing which is actually two things. But it makes sense! You cannot have one without the other. They go hand-in-hand.

I wanted to encourage you today as your grow in your relationship with God to not give up. Keep searching. Keep seeking. Always push yourself to keep growing. Know that it is a process and a journey, not a moment.

Remember what I did when I got frustrated and could not figure out the rubik’s cube? I gave it to my father and he was able to fix it for me. During times where you are struggling in your relationship with God, struggling in your faith, or struggling to keep going, when you want to put the rubik’s cube down in frustration, remember that your Heavenly Father is a master at the rubik’s cube.

1 comment:

CrazyMan said...

"For those of you in the XBox 360/ Nintendo Wii area, a Rubik's Cube [is a twisty puzzle you have to solve."

Geez, I think we know what a Rubik's cube is. After all, we're the generation that has pushed the cubing record down to a sub 10.

Don't discriminate... we still know what a Rubik's cube is...