What we sometimes use as valuable descriptors of life can be useful. They help us understand things on a deeper level. They can provide a broader picture of things and just a generally better understanding. And often times we use metaphors for that reason.
I like when people are able to relate a commonly understood principle to a less understood one, or a harder to understand one. I sometimes try to do that myself. Sports provide a great many metaphors to relate to real life. Say, for example, a lawyer changed their game plan in the middle of a trial—you could say they “called an audible”. This phrase refers to a quarterback who changes the play from the one they had planned in the huddle, because the situation has changed. So, they yell out a new play to their team mates. So, this explanation could be valuable for someone who doesn’t understand what’s happening in a trial, but understands football. That’s what metaphors do. They take a commonly understood theme and relate it to one that’s less commonly understood, for the purposes of greater understanding.
Sometimes we have a basic understanding of something, but a metaphor just provides a broader understanding for us. Say, if a financial advisor has a client with an investment portfolio with some really risky investments. That advisor could make the statement that his client is ‘flying without a net’. He’s relating his client’s portfolio to a trapeze circus act. So, by relating his client’s investments to that commonly understood idea, he’s saying that his client is taking on too much risk. Most advisors would like to see people be diversified so that if one investment goes bad, they have others to keep them from losing everything. So, someone ‘flying without a net’ with their investments may be OK with the investments they have, but if things go bad, they don’t have anything to catch them if they fall.
I like using these kinds of descriptors of everyday situations. They’re valuable tools. And we can take situations we’ve learned from, in one area of our lives, and apply them to other situations. I think that’s why sports are such a good activity for us when we’re in school. We learn valuable skills involving things like teamwork, giving our best effort, and even learning to trust other people. Sometimes, however, I wonder if we just start seeing everything as a metaphor for something else. If we start taking everything as just symbolic, can that start to diminish that which is literally true? Maybe, sometimes, the metaphor isn’t just a metaphor. Maybe, sometimes, it’s something more than that. Maybe it’s meant to be more than that. I know some of you may be wondering what I’m talking about. You may not fully see what I’m getting at right now. There’s a bigger principle at play. Let’s see if I can explain it a little better.
I know for many of us, as we look at the miracles in the Bible, we tend to see these things as a metaphor for a belief, and faith, and trust in God. And they are that, to be sure. But what I’m wondering is, “Have we allowed the metaphor to replace the miracle itself?” So, when we look at the miracles Jesus performed, maybe we can not only use these to teach us how to trust and walk with Him, but also see miracles in our own lives? Sometimes we easily think that miracles in the Bible only happened back then. But I believe God still does miracles today.
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AV Matthew 14:28-29: “And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.” When Jesus called Peter to come walk on the water with Him, it allowed Peter to exercise his faith, trust, and belief in Jesus. I believe it is a good metaphor for us today. It does show us how to believe. The fact that Peter began to sink when he got his eyes off of Jesus, and started looking at the wind and the waves, is very applicable to us today. The same will happen for us in any situation where we start looking at our circumstances instead of looking to Jesus. But Jesus performed a miracle here, and Peter saw a great miracle because of his faith in Jesus. He just believed without hesitation that Jesus could do this.
AV Mark 10:51-52: “And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.” This is the account in Mark of Blind Bartimaeus being healed by Jesus. If you read the verses just prior to this, you see that Bartimaeus kept calling, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!” As he kept calling out, Jesus stopped, and then he had him called over to Him. This provided the opportunity for Jesus to heal him. And it was his faith in Jesus that provided the opportunity for the miracle to be performed.
AV Romans 10:17: “So then faith [cometh] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” It’s clear from the Bible that Jesus wasn’t afraid to perform miracles. Jesus didn’t lack for the power to perform those miracles either. What was often lacking was people with the faith to trust in His power. That faith comes by hearing the word of God and getting His word in us. When we get His word in us, and come to a full heart understanding of what it says, we can see Him do great things in our own lives. We can see from the miracles Jesus performed that the ones who believed were able to receive from Him. So, maybe we shouldn’t be afraid to believe. Maybe we can believe for God to do something great in our lives—something that has no other explanation other than, “It was just God!”
AV Matthew 14:28-29: “And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.”
AV Mark 10:51-52: “And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.”
AV Romans 10:17: “So then faith [cometh] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”