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| Photo by Carl Revell |
Why? Well, there's just something about a metaphor. It's so... clarifying.
Humans use them to understand things. It's just a fact. We use simple things to make sense of complicated things.
Take a look at some of the things we've simplified with metaphors:
- Time as a stream - "The flow of time"
- The brain as a computer - "memory," "processing information"
- The "heart" as a room - "She'll always have a place in my heart..." (and the "heart" is a metaphor in itself)
We actually use a lot more metaphors than we realize. Pay attention this week... you'll catch yourself using them all the time.
Why does this matter? Well, because if we understand how our minds use metaphor to understand complicated things, we can understand how God is trying to teach us.
God takes complicated stuff and makes it simpler to us through metaphors.
Have you noticed how many metaphors God uses when he's teaching people? They're all over the place. Seriously. There's a ton of them.
Take a look at some of these example metaphors:
1. Jesus being the "Vine" and us being the "Branches," showing us how we need to stay connected with him. (John 15)
2. The last supper being the "Body" and "Blood" of Christ, which gives us at least SOME comprehension of what Jesus did for us on the cross. (Matthew 26:26-28)
3. Putting on the "Armor" of God, a picture of how truth, righteousness, faith, salvation, the gospel, and the Spirit keep us from being completely hacked up by all the lies and pain and evil in this world. (Ephesians 6:13-18)
Crazy, right? If you read the Bible, you'll see a ton of analogies like this. And what you'll notice is that God uses them because they stick in our brain. As Brian Clark of Copyblogger says, "Metaphors Ignite Understanding."
As it turns out, we were made to learn quickest via metaphors.
The Don Miller email example:
I got an email from Don Miller the other day. He's selling his online course, Creating Your Life Plan. I think it's on sale right now or something. Anyhow, when I opened the email, all it said was:
Your guide out of the fog.
When I saw that, I instantly knew what it meant. The fog of my life. How peculiar that I "just knew." How did I know?
Without the word fog, it might have taken a paragraph -- or even a whole page of text -- before I understood what he was selling. But all it took was that one sentence. Because that one sentence painted a picture. It drew on something I already knew about to explain something I didn't know.
God teaches us like this.
God knows what he's doing. That's why He does it this way. Because a metaphor is a huge brain shortcut. It helps your mind get where it needs to faster. AND, sometimes it even lets you understand something better than you would normally.
People love pictures. Because we just get them. We don't need anything else. We don't need the technical knowledge. And best of all, we can see pictures. Our minds gravitate to them like magnets. (See that picture?)
God shows us who He is by comparing Himself with things we already understand. Think about all the parables Jesus tells. Think about every single time Jesus talks about the "Kingdom of Heaven." It's like a mustard seed. It's like a man finding a treasure in a field. It's like a person who buys a pearl.
Metaphors are wildly helpful in our search for understanding.
They give us a window to the truth. They allow us to communicate with God better. And they make hard things easier to comprehend.
Be on the lookout for God's metaphors this week. He might be using them to get your attention.
P.S. Don't rule out your dreams, either...
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