To err is human, but to really mess things up you need a computer! Computers work logically. Tell a computer to suggest a present for your girlfriend between £20 and £30 and the computer does, but it also logically rejects 40 possible presents costing £19.99 and 50 costing just over £30. The problem with them is – no imagination!
We think we want facts like that. "Jesus: tell us plainly, are you the Christ?" [John 10 24] sounds so plausible a question. But the problem is again, no imagination. In this case it was a question of what they wanted to hear, not what was strictly logical. If Jesus had said "Yes I am the Christ", would his hearers have accepted it? It was logically correct, but he clearly did not meet their expectations and they would have rejected him.
Faith is complex. What we expect of God depends so much on our preconceptions of God. Many Christians pray every day – fervently and faithfully, but they are somewhat surprised if they get what they are praying for! Why is that? It is not lack of faith – they believe in God, but the world seems so big and so complex somehow it seems inconceivable for their little prayers to have any effect. So maybe we limit our prayers to make them more feasible.
That's where Jesus reply to his questioners is so odd. Read it in John 10:27-28. "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life"
"Be a sheep: trust your shepherd and ask away. If you follow him I will give you eternal life…" What was that! Eternal Life? Where did that come from?
God is extravagant beyond our wildest dreams. Ask away, pray extravagantly and you will be surprised at what he will do with our prayers.
Alan Cartwright
Read the Bible in a year: Psalm 63:1-11, 1 Samuel 1:1-2:26, John 10:22-42
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