“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.” I Corinthians 2:14-16

Who do you know that is smarter than the Lord? Is it your wise old grandpa? How about that favorite college professor of yours? Surely all that study made him or her sharper than God. What about that glorified talking head that works for your most trusted news source? No doubt they have the mental edge on Jesus, right? No, I know, it’s you! You are no doubt more all-knowing than the One who created it all!

Silliness aside, the faithful know in their hearts that no one is wiser than the Lord, yet there are times in our lives when we are tempted to think we know better than Jesus about the situations we are facing. Instead of just trusting Him and His direction, we try things our own way and then are surprised when things don’t work out the way we had planned. Been there? I have. The takeaway that we both should have gleaned is that we should be smart enough to trust in the infinite wisdom of God and always just do what He says!

The last couple of weeks we have written of how many Christians “frustrate” the grace of God and hinder the flow of God’s help into their lives. How? By complicating God’s solution to their problems and, at times, even advocating a “Jesus plus” theology.

We said that God’s grace is a mighty river, but when we try to complicate His solutions and fail to just do what He says, we try to funnel that grace through a garden hose and end up restricting what God desires to do in our lives. We saw this very concept illustrated in the lives of both Naaman and in the earliest form of the Christian church. Thankfully, both Naaman and the early church corrected course and did eventually receive the manifold grace of God in their lives. But the danger for us to fall into this “Jesus plus” religion remains something we should guard ourselves against in the times in which we live.

Last week in particular, we looked at one reason people frustrate God’s grace in their lives and fail to just do what He says. It is because they don’t really trust His Word. They hear from God but then second guess whether it is God or not, paralyzing them from taking appropriate action.

Now, this week let’s look at another reason we humans complicate God’s solution to our problems. Did you realize that some people complicate God’s grace-filled solutions because they don’t trust God’s logic? It’s true! People hear God’s solution and it’s too simple. So simple in fact, that it doesn’t make sense to them and they reject it.

Here’s the thing: God is so infinitely intelligent that He doesn’t have to put on airs (as a side note, the most intelligent people I’ve ever met didn’t try to prove their intelligence with every breath. They already knew they were smart. They didn’t need other people’s affirmation). As we see relayed in part in I Corinthians 2, God is so wise He can simplify the most complicated of issues and turn the world’s understanding on its head.

Brothers and sisters, the bottom line is this: there’s no reason to question God’s logic no matter how “unreasonable” it is (think of Naaman). We just need to do what He says!

Greg Crum is the pastor of Calvary Temple in Lovely.