Why do men get so aggravated while working with electronics or mechanical things? This was Jennifer’s question of me after witnessing my attempts to install a new phone system that was fighting me badly. I laughed and said, “I know exactly why: because it rubs up against our curse.”
This has become a point of humor. For instance, in my favorite Christmas movie, A Christmas Story, this is perfectly depicted. Mr. Parker, Ralphie’s father, wrestled with his furnace, expletives flying. It was an epic battle and a crusade of male human strength – “I will conquer this!” The machines always seem to throw a wrench into my life works.
“Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.”
Genesis 3:17 NIV
Aggravated with the Curse
Men know full well the repercussions of the fall, and it’s not relegated to the growing of food. We feel it, experience it, and struggle with it daily. The natural man is tied to the effects of the curse and the painful toil hurts our souls. This is the fall and we hate it! The consequence of sin is always a bitter pill to swallow.
When talking to Jennifer, I poised it in a more dramatic light. “We know when the thorns and thistles are tearing at our flesh and we hate it! Isn’t it supposed to succumb to my dominion?” Spoken just like a man (huhuhuh).
Solution to the Curse of Being Aggravated
There is a solution. The New Man is not hindered by the curse. The world is fallen, so I don’t know if we can truly live unaffected by the fall. This world is ordered around the fall – “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you.” But I do know that the New Life in the New Man gives us the ability to have Another’s Life face the curse.
In His power and strength I’m not entangled by my labors. This doesn’t mean I don’t have to work, it just means the source of my life is His Life not mine. He can navigate through His world, where I am just frustrated by it.
In my post Holy Cow, I dove into this headlong. Come read about it and hear how we can live anxiety-free and free of frustration.
This is so me!!!! I have often said I don’t get road rage but I get computer rage. I think I’m understanding the point of the struggle that mechanics are a thing that seem to master us and we engage the endless quest of trying to master the thing. Do I have that right? Have you ever noticed that the inanimate thing can make us so animate….
My animation comes absolutely alive with inanimate objects. The is particularly noteworthy when they refuse to function as they were intended. hehe Oddly enough, my attempts of mastery have only perpetuated my frustrations. It seems that only when The Master performs my job am I able to enter into Rest and joy. More on this in tomorrow’s post. Thanks for commenting Deborah!