Math That Doesn’t Make Sense – August 21, 2024

Read: 1 Corinthians 2:6-16

The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.
1 Corinthians 2:14

Math That Doesn’t Make Sense

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

See if you can figure out this simple math problem:

If a person had two Snickers bars and someone gave them two Hershey bars, how many pieces of candy would they have?

Hopefully, you said four candy bars.

You know how to do that simple math problem because you can picture two pieces of candy, and then you can picture adding two more. That’s simple. It makes sense.

But see if you can do spiritual math.

The Bible talks about God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. If you add God the Father to God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, how many Gods do you have? According to the Bible, you have one God.

How can that be?

Well, because spiritual math doesn’t work like physical math. It’s not simple, and it doesn’t make sense in your head.

The apostle Paul says there’s a reason why there are biblical truths that don’t make sense in our human heads. It’s because only the Holy Spirit can unlock you to believe what you might think is unbelievable.

That’s good news because many things in the Bible don’t seem to add up in our heads. Here’s a “math” problem that makes the least sense in the Bible: All of our many, many sins + the death of Jesus = forgiveness and eternal life. That doesn’t seem to make any sense either. How could the death of one man mean that all the world’s evil is forgiven?

It’s not simple. It doesn’t make sense in our heads. But that is how God’s spiritual math works. And thank God for that! God’s math is based on God’s perfect wisdom and not our simple understanding. The good news is the power of the Holy Spirit leads us to believe that God’s math is always right and never wrong.

Closing Prayer:

Lord God, sometimes our faith doesn’t seem to make sense. In those times when things don’t seem to add up, please give us your Holy Spirit so we can believe in your truth and gracious promises.

The questions below are to help families discuss this devotion. The questions are divided by age group as suggestions, but anyone could reflect on any of the questions as they desire.

Questions for Younger Children

• Name something about God that doesn’t make sense to you.
• Who does God send to help us believe in God’s math?

Questions for Elementary Age Children

• Why is the Holy Spirit so important to your faith?
• “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief. Amen.” Why is that a great prayer for you to remember?

Questions for Middle School and Above

• TRUE or FALSE. If the Bible says something that doesn’t make sense in your head, you should trust your instinct.
• Name something from the Bible you’ve been having a hard time believing. How does today’s devotion help you?