During my freshman year of college I took a baby programming course, and I remember (which is amazing, since it was the fall of 1961) the first assignment very well. The professor asked us to write detailed instructions for tying our shoes. That evening I found that it was a seemingly impossible task. At the next class he had us trade papers and follow the instructions in tying our shoes. What a disaster! None of us was successful. Of course, hundreds, if not thousands, of children learn to tie their shoes every day, but they don’t do it following detailed, linearly organized instructions like those needed by a computer.  
 

​Most of the difficulty in the above assignment came in writing the instructions, but it is also very hard to follow step-by-step directions. If you’ve ever had to assemble a product following directions written in another country by an engineer whose native language is not English, then you know what I mean. As another example, I find it very frustrating to follow the directions of the GPS in my car. I have a need to understand where I’m going and somehow “see” the big picture. Whenever the GPS goes wrong (e.g. it gives the wrong directions to our house), I can’t help saying to Paulette, “See what I mean.” Somehow the best instructions (for humans) include information at both the micro and the macro level.

​By the time of Christ it was a real challenge to follow the directions for living a Godly life. You had to obey the 613 commandments in the Old Testament as well as the rulings of the legal scholars that had studied them over the centuries. Every situation required a carefully reasoned interpretation. The problem was that the details had obscured the general principles such as the one given by Micah: “To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” It was like trying to tie your shoes using written instructions (you know they did wear sandals). Today our instructions are easy: repent and accept God’s grace.

​Thank God for Velcro. Thank God for His grace. Read Micah 6:1-8 and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Jim