There are dozens of human activities that are naturally counterintuitive:

• Tiller Drive Outboard. The captain steers left to go right and vice versa.
• Driving on Ice. Always steer into the skid … in other words, steer left to go right and vice versa.
• Putting on makeup or shaving while looking into a mirror. The first time a person tries this, there is the realization that you are looking at a backward image of yourself.
• Sharp knives are safer than dull knives. (This fact is true, except in homes where the person who sharpens the knives doesn’t tell the unsuspecting knife users that the dull edges have been sharpened.)
• Escaping a Sinking Car. Always wait until the car fills with water before attempting to exit. 
• Planting Seeds. To make more food, you throw food into the ground and let it “die” — i.e., sowing and reaping.

There are thousands of ideas that humans embrace that lead to failure and destruction. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Is it an exit point, or a light on the front of a locomotive? Jesus, Himself, said that “broad is the road that leads to destruction, and MANY enter through it. Yet narrow is the road that leads to eternal life, but only a few find it.” (Matthew 17:13-14)

During WWII, statistician Abraham Wald was asked to help the British decide where to add armor to their bombers. After analyzing the records, he recommended adding more armor to the places where there was no damage! The Royal Air Force was initially confused.

Wald had data only on the planes that returned to Britain so the bullet holes that Wald saw were all in places where a plane could be hit and still survive. The planes that were shot down were probably hit in different places than those that returned so Wald recommended adding armor to the places where the surviving planes were lucky enough not to have been hit.

This is brilliantly counterintuitive thinking that saved hundreds and possibly thousands of aviators’ lives. This is also a clear and transformative way to approach God. The Scriptures on several occasions liken humans to sheep. If you know sheep, you know that they are dumb animals, with no sense of direction, discernment or natural defenses. This is where embracing the concept of “counterintuitive” begins to make sense. Abraham Wald’s critical thinking flowed out of his God-given ability to see lots of details at once. By reverse engineering the absence of bullet holes, he could see what others couldn’t. 

Jesus strategically recruited two writers on His Scripture writing team who were much like Wald. Though separated completely in the storyline of the New Testament, both the tax-collector, Matthew, and the young Pharisee, Saul (later Paul), had one trait in common: they were both drawn to the counterintuitive nature of Christ and His Kingdom. They saw details that others couldn’t see. They recognized and strategically emphasized truths that bring the truth of God and the Gospel into sharp focus. These two strategic men, from two entirely different perspectives, have given the future generations of the world Christian movement a perspective on how to live a life like no other. Seeing Jesus through the eyes of Matthew and Paul is at once enticingly novel and deeply profound. Together their Gospel calls us out of ourselves and into a life like no other.

The God of the Bible is all-knowing, all-wise and transcendent. Even with a seemingly omniscient AI genie at our fingertips, we humans are dumb, short-sighted and hopelessly trapped in the present. With an extensive track record of failure and pride, we humans can make royal messes of our lives. Our problem is obvious from a Biblical perspective: “All we like sheep have gone astray. Each one has gone his own way …” (Isaiah 53:6) “Man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward …” (Job 5:7) “In his pride the wicked man does not seek Him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.” (Psalm 10:4)

It is only when we reach the end of ourselves that we find the most beautiful fact in all the universe: God really does love us and has personally offered each of us a way out of our mess. That way is decidedly COUNTERINTUITIVE to everything we start with on our earth-bound journey as infants through adulthood. When the “wise-in-their-own-eyes” religious leaders of Jesus’s day heard Him teach, all they could do was scoff! Nicodemus couldn’t grasp a born-again Gospel even though he had memorized the very Scriptures that foretold it! How could hookers and tax-cheats be closer to God than religionists? Both Matthew and Paul had an answer.

The fiery Jesus not only turned over money-changer tables … no, “God in the flesh” showed up and turned EVERYTHING UPSIDE DOWN. He turned religion INSIDE OUT. He proved weakness more powerful than strength. He exposed human wisdom as foolishness. He offered salvation through a Gospel where we die, stop and rest. And He, in His final work on earth, took the most ugly and wretched act of human judgment, and transformed it into the most beautiful expression of His Father’s love. 

And so, over the next 40 days, we invite you to embrace the COUNTERINTUITIVE. We invite you to embrace the upside-down Kingdom. We invite you to embrace the inside-out Gospel. We invite you to embrace strength in weakness. We invite you to embrace the foolishness of God that is wiser than the wisdom of men. We invite you to embrace a rest that is both oxymoronic and counterintuitive. And finally, we offer a new set of eyes that will transform ugly into glory and exchange ashes for beauty. We’ll let Matthew’s Gospel and Paul’s letters to the Corinthians be our starting point. Our prayer to the Father is that your soul would catch fire with the presence of Jesus through His powerful Word by the work of His Spirit.