What a horror it must be for a teenager to vacation in a distant location with all kinds of tech gadgetry and a household power supply, but with no AC power adapter to power or recharge any of these gadgets! Why are AC power adapters needed anyway? Why can’t we just plug cell phones, music players, etc., right into the wall socket and use or recharge them?
We must have something that is a ‘middleman’ between the high power source coming into our home and the relatively fragile electronic gadgets that we use almost every day, in order to make them work without destroying them in the process.
The answer lies in the fact that we are dealing with a power source that is much, much greater than our portable device is capable of handling. It is like trying to fill a cup of water at the bottom of a giant waterfall, or asking some firefighters trying to put out a fire to aim their hose running full blast at us, so we can have a drink of water.
We must have something that is a ‘middleman’ between the high power source coming into our home and the relatively fragile electronic gadgets that we use almost every day, in order to make them work without destroying them in the process. The solution is to use an AC power adapter (or a converter) that converts the powerful kind of electricity traveling through the wires in our homes into the weaker kind of power that our portable device needs.
Without a Power Adapter Our Electronics Have No Hope
If we plugged our cell phone, computer, or music player directly into one of the outlets at home, without using an AC power adapter or converter, devices of this type would be permanently damaged. (Some devices have a power adapter located inside the unit, so they appear to be getting full power directly from the wall outlet when plugged in.) They could even catch on fire or explode.
It is possible for the power company to provide the weaker kind of electricity to the wall outlets that is more compatible with our various portable technological devices. But this would then create a problem for other kinds of items, such as refrigerators, electric stoves, toaster ovens, and electric saws. Devices like these need much more power for a longer period of time than our portable electronics would ever require. This is why we need a power converter or adapter.
This kind of solution also applies to making a way for us to approach the most powerful being in the universe, and have close fellowship with Him. Approaching God simply in our finite, fragile, physical bodies is not possible. That would be something like trying to climb one of the very tall towers to reach the wires coming from a power generating station in order to plug in our phone. The electricity those wires are transmitting is so strong (several power converters are needed before it can even come into our homes) that just coming near them will kill us. Yet God is more powerful than all power stations combined, for all eternity!
He is so powerful that He can simply speak something into or out of existence in less than a fraction of a second. How can we possibly come close to Someone so powerful and live? We need Someone to be a mediator, a representative, a liaison, or go-between who is capable of standing before God for us, yet also able to fully represent the frail, mortal human beings that we are, a sort of ‘spiritual power adaptor’. This middleman would have to be without any sin or anything else that God would reject, or God would not let Him into His presence.
Jesus is Our ‘Power Adapter’ Between an All Powerful God
God’s Son, Jesus Christ, is that Mediator or ‘Go-between’ that we need. He could be considered our personal ‘power adapter.’ He was sinless when He walked this Earth as a man, and therefore qualified to fulfill the requirements God laid out for man to be able to come before Him. Through Jesus’ sacrifice of Himself on the cross, He bridged the gap of separation between God and us. Jesus became the way for us to approach and have fellowship with the all-powerful God.
If we seek God for forgiveness of our sins, and accept Jesus’ sacrifice of Himself on the cross as if it was our own (as our ‘Go-between’ or substitute), then forsake our sinful ways and yield our lives to Him, we, like a power adapter, ‘plug into’ a new life with God Himself through His Son. “Jesus saith…I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).
No Shortcuts in Reaching God
Trying to reach God and have fellowship with Him in any other way is only attempting to meet God in our own weak and finite strength and wisdom. This means we are trying to take a shortcut, and as a result, actually end up rejecting what His Son did on the cross for us instead. Ultimately it leads to our death, because no sinful man can come before a holy, all-powerful God and live.
God knows we are not capable of coming before Him directly, yet He desires and longs for our mutual fellowship. Therefore, in His love for us—a love greater than we could ever comprehend—He made His Son to be the means by which we can have a relationship with Him like a child has with his parents. Just as a power adapter makes it possible for a delicate electronic device to connect with the much more powerful household power supply, we need to connect to Jesus—our “spiritual” ‘power adapter,’ and let Him be the way we connect to God—our Supreme Heavenly power source!
For more information on how to connect to God please visit our page on The Way to God.
[Additional photo credits: Featured image (when applicabke) by Emilian Robert Vicol from PixabayOpening image by mzacha on Freeimages.com; Photo gallery (L) image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay, (R) photo by abeall on Freeimages.com]
