A life formula doesn’t work in the real world. Why? Consider this: If you’re baking a cake, you can use a formula. If you’re mixing chemicals, I’d recommend a formula. If you want to know how big to make the beams on your floor so the second story won’t collapse, by all means, use a formula.
But once you start planning for college, thinking about marriage, finding a job, or anything involving the variables called “real people and real life,” then dump your life formula. It simply won’t work. You just entered the world of probabilities, and formulas are now all qualified with words like “usually,” “often,” and “most.”
Why a Life Formula Doesn’t Add Up
When we assume we can use a life formula to sculpt the future, we end up with a bucket full of regret. Or we might feel betrayed by the system. I wish I could list the number of formulas I thought would work that did not.
I was all but promised certain things would happen when I blogged consistently, did xyz as a dad or husband, wrote a book, got a bachelors degree, got my M.Div. … and a whole lot more. You name it, each had promises of what it would lead to. But they rarely, and sometimes never, did.
But this truth doesn’t seem to stop people from trying to sell me on their life formula. The other day, someone did it with the “key” to writing. Another guy told me the “key” to getting volunteers.
The Bible Isn’t a Formula Either
Often people try to turn the Bible into a formula too. They see it as an “If you do this, then this will happen…either for good or bad” kind of resource. While Scripture certainly contains some “if/then” truths, it’s also equally true that the Bible isn’t a book of formulas. The most famous of these is the entire book of Proverbs. It’s filled with “if/then” statements that are “wisdom” for living, not formulas you can plug and chug through.
The one that bugs me the most is Proverbs 22:6ish. “Train a child up by [insert your own list of good behaviors and a litany of Christian ideas here] and when they grow old, they will not depart from it.” Right. So you can trace back every kid who goes astray to a failed ingredient in the life formula. Mom didn’t read enough Scripture to them. Dad didn’t come home from work early enough. Their church wasn’t ______ enough … and on and on.
But if you’ve taken a seminary class on Proverbs, then you know that “proverbs are not promises.” They are “wisdom literature filled with probabilities.” Yes, if you hang out with people who do “x,” you’re more likely than not to do “y” with them. Maybe a lot more likely. But we all can cite exceptions because, for better or worse, people are always screwing up a life formula.