Wendy had me play a game with her a while back that she called “Object Lesson”. The idea is that you take a random item and make a spiritual lesson out of it. It was pretty difficult at first—and I felt like I was pulling stuff out of the air—but after a while you get in a groove. It becomes easier to make Biblical connections from looking at an avocado or a teddy bear. And when you get to something like a carved bunny, you’re able to wax eloquence about how Christ was a carpenter who brought ordinary stuff to life through the natural means of shaped wood, and thus with His death upon a wooded cross He redeemed the ordinary through extraordinary grace.
“Object Lesson” came to mind as I read Jordan’s descriptions of discernment and Biblical worldviewishness. A good many of his connections seem far fetched—like pulling non-existent parallels out of the air—but, in thinking about them, begin to make sense. Other connections are just plain obvious and I wonder why I never saw it or how I could have believed otherwise. Jolting recognition must be the first step towards discernment. Making time to make connections is the hardest part. But I suppose, just as in the spiritual lessons game, after a while it becomes easier to observe all the red flags and connect all the dots. And when you get to something like the first chapter of Judges, you can see that the story of Caleb, Othniel, and Achsah is small reflection of the larger redemption story of extraordinary grace given through the waters of life.
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