Some things just work, and because they work well they give pleasure.  If you doubt that, think about what happens when something doesn’t work, and how you experience the opposite of pleasure.

A fork is an elegantly simple solution to a problem, and it has hardly changed since its introduction.

The robotic explorer on Mars is the product of a brain-meltingly complex sequence of successful operations, but they continue to work.

The choreography of a brilliant dance number and the choreography of an assembly line both work, and occasionally make us smile with pleasure.

Christ’s loving kingdom works. His laws and and his judgments are good for us, and for every particle of the universe.  His royal plans are all-embracing, constructed in detail and guaranteed to reach their good end, fitting for everything and person he has made, and accounting for every hair on every person’s head. His judgements are true, and unanswerably fair and right His Word, at once simple and dizzyingly complex, is coherent and interconnected in a million ways.  An infinity of ways.

So when the architect finally solves the complex building problem, or the plumber grins at releasing the airlock, or the customer smiles at the ‘click’ on the car door – they are all reflecting, bearing the image of the God who saw that everything he had made was ‘good’, ready and made to do its work, with nothing wasted and every detail meant to be.

Think it through

• Do you take pleasure when things work efficiently?
• How do things not working explain or illustrate the consequences of sin? (For instance, think of the language we use – ‘broken’ relationships, or people ‘cracking under pressure’)
• Do you tolerate inefficiency or disorganisation in yourself, or in an area of church where you have responsibility?