Living in Mystery

I participated in a reading challenge this summer. The challenge was to pick up a book whenever you would normally scroll through social media. I found myself reading more than I have in a long while. I went to the library and came home with a stack of books and took them with me everywhere: the boy's sports practices, the doctor's office, the hair salon, etc. 

One of the genres I haven't read in a long time, but have always loved, is mystery. In elementary school I loved Encyclopedia Brown. Until I discovered Nancy Drew. Then I read every variation and reincarnation of Nancy and her pals, George and Bess. In high school, I had a job at my local library and discovered Agatha Christie. I then read every Agatha Christie mystery the library owned.

So this summer, I found myself rediscovering my love of a good mystery. When I read a good mystery, I find myself searching for clues alongside the investigators in the book. My mind questions and evaluates all the details in an attempt to figure out who committed the crime before the characters in the book do. And I have that eventual "I can't believe it!" moment when the book finally reveals the culprit at the end of the story.

I think we all find mysteries intriguing. They pique our interest and curiosity, our love of problem solving. If not in storybooks, then certainly in real life. We like to find out what's behind a closed door. When someone has an unanswered question, we research it until it's answered. And I for one am grateful for the scientists who pursue medical mysteries until they are solved.

But there are some mysteries that will remain unanswered. Some mysteries we have to learn to live with. Some mysteries we have to learn to appreciate, accept, and even embrace.

Those mysteries are the mysteries of God's unrevealed will.

Theologians use the terms "revealed will" and "unrevealed will" to describe the things we can know and not know about God and his work in our life and world. "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law" (Deuteronomy 29:29). 

We live according to God's revealed will, what he has given us in his word. The Bible tells us all we need to know to live and glorify God in our life. His word tells us what is wise and what is foolish. It shows us our sin and our need for a Savior. It instructs us in what we need to know about who God is and what he has done for us. 2 Peter tells us God has given us everything we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3-4).

The things we don't know are God's hidden will. We don't know what will happen tomorrow. "The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps" (Proverbs 16:9. While we know Jesus will return one day to make all things new, we don't know when that will be. "But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only" (Matthew 24:36). We don't always know why or how certain circumstances have occurred in our lives, though we know they will all turn out for our ultimate good and God's glory (Romans 8:28). There are even theological truths that may be too complex for our human and finite minds to fully grasp; we just have to trust and believe what God says about them.

Living in mystery means yielding and submitting to the One who does know the answers to all the unknowns. It is a place of humility in which we acknowledge that we are creatures and God is creator. It is a place of child-like trust and faith, knowing that God will do what is best, out of his perfect love for us. It is a place that embraces and even finds joy in knowing that we don't know everything but that God rules and reigns over all things. Nothing can stop his purposes and plans; all things will come to pass exactly as he has designed them to. 

"Remember this and stand firm,
recall it to mind, you transgressors,
remember the former things of old;
for I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me,
declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
and I will accomplish all my purpose,’
calling a bird of prey from the east,
the man of my counsel from a far country.
I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass;
I have purposed, and I will do it." (Isaiah 46:8-11)

So while mysteries are fun to read and while many of the unknown things in the world will be discovered and answered by historians, scientists, and inventors, there are things we can't know and God will not let us know. And that place of mystery is a safe place. As we wait and watch for God to move, we can trust, hope, and rejoice that he alone is God. He will work wonders in his perfect time. And in eternity, we can look forward to unwrapping the layers and layers of mystery, learning more and more about our holy and all-knowing God.

The Promise Keeping God

Most believers have a favorite promise in Scripture that they have memorized and cling to during hard times--often even more than one. Personally. I have always been partial to Isaiah 40, in which we read, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (v. 10). I remind myself, on a regular basis, of this biblical promise as well: “…nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39).

The promises that God gives us are almost too numerous to count. He promises to provide our needs (Philippians 4:19), forgive our sins (1 John 1:9), produce fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), grant eternal life in Christ (John 11:25-26), and to be with us always (Matthew 28:20). Some Christians look at such promises and say that we must claim them in order for them to be true for us. We must believe them with all our heart and they will come to pass. As though we can click our heels three times, squeeze our eyes shut, and recite a verse over and over and the next thing we know, God’s promises are delivered into our hands.

God’s promises are not true because we believe in them. They don’t come to pass because our faith is great. God’s promises will come to pass simply because God said them...to read the rest of this post, visit Christward Collective.

GPS, Spiritual Laziness, and God's Word

Since I moved last year, the GPS on my phone has become my constant guide. I follow it wherever it leads. Traffic can pop up unexpectedly at any moment, and since I still don’t know the roads, I let the GPS tell me the way.

The problem is, I use it too much. I don’t pay attention to where I am going. I just blindly follow wherever it tells me to go. As a result, I think it is making me lazy. I haven’t learned the names of the roads. I couldn’t tell you which way is north, south, east, or west. If I lost cell service, I would be stuck. Helpless. Lost.

Blindly following anything is usually not a good idea. We should know where we are and where we are going. There are parallels in this to our spiritual life. How often do we pick up a devotional to read before reading the actual Bible? How often do we let other people tell us what Scripture means before learning it for ourselves? How often do we listen to what sounds good, feels good, seems good, rather than what actually is good and right?

GPS has made me lazy. Not studying God’s word for ourselves makes us spiritually lazy. If we only know Scripture that has been regurgitated and spoon fed to us, we’ll never know how to taste it on our own. “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil” (Hebrews 5:12-14).

Knowing God’s Word is not only vital for spiritual health, but for spiritual life as well. If we can’t read God’s Word for ourselves and grasp the main idea, how can we identify when someone is twisting the truth? 1 Peter 2 warns about false teachers and prophets who lead people astray by things that sound good to the ear but are in fact false, “just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them…many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words” (vv. 1-3). It is all too easy to just follow what someone else says without verifying that it is true. The Bereans didn’t take Paul’s teaching at face value. They wanted to see for themselves whether what he said was true. So they compared his teaching to God’s Word (Acts 17:11).

Lastly, I should want and desire to learn my way around so I am not dependent upon my GPS. After all, it is my home; it's where I live. It should become familiar to me. I should desire to know it like a resident, rather than a visitor. Likewise, I should also value and love God’s Word. I should find it worthy of my time to read and know it. It should be familiar to me, like knowing my way around my hometown.  

My kids and I recently read Corrie Ten Boom’s biography. The one thing she wanted with her in the concentration camp was her Bible. She went to great lengths to keep it and hide it. Corrie read it to the women in the camp with her. She and her sister praised God for the lice in their cabin because it kept the German guards from inspecting it and finding their Bible. As I thought about this, I wondered about myself and my own heart. Do I love God’s Word that much? Is it the spiritual food that sustains me? Would I hunger and thirst for it if I did not have it? Or would I get by on a substitute, a fill in, a watered down version of the real thing?

My GPS is helpful for getting around town and avoiding the frustrations of traffic. But I shouldn't be dependent upon it. I should take time to learn my way around for myself. In a similar way, may we know God's Word for ourselves so we can navigate truth and identify falsehood. May we develop a taste for its rich food, rather than always being spoon fed by others. And may we value the truth it contains more than anything else.  

Because Jesus Was Tempted

What does it mean to you that Jesus faced temptation? The fact that Jesus experienced temptations is important for our salvation as well as for our own daily battles with temptation. The writer of Hebrews captured the significance of this vital aspect of Christ's ministry when he wrote: “For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). Consider all that the Scriptures teach us about this:

In the Wilderness

In Matthew 4, after He was baptized by the Spirit and honored by the Father, Jesus was led by the Spirit to the wilderness where He faced off with Satan. What a drastic change to go from a baptism to temptation! For forty days Jesus was without food and water. Satan found Him there and tempted Him to sin.

Matthew records three specific temptations Jesus endured..to read the rest of this post, visit The Christward Collective. 

For the Cynical Heart

In our homeschool, I’ve been going through a cycle of World History with my children. We began with ancient civilizations and have moved slowly through the centuries each year. Most recently, we studied WWII.

Each time I read an event in history, one of the kids inevitably mutters, “Another story of someone trying to conquer and take over the world.” They groan as they hear stories of dictators and rulers making promises, because they know that in the end, they will rule with an iron fist—until the next dictator comes along.

Cynicism Under the Sun

Doesn’t life seem that way? Just another story in a stream of the same stories we’ve heard over and over. This is how the Teacher felt in the book of Ecclesiastes. “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there a thing of which it is said, “See, this is new?” It has been already in the ages before us” (1:9-10).

That negative and pessimistic tone is one of cynicism...To read the rest of this post, visit Christward Collective.

This is Love

Last year, I found my kids these fun Star Wars Valentines. They had cute sayings like, "Join the heart side" and "You're my only hope." 

This is the month of love, the time of year when we express our love to those we hold dear. We give out Valentines, heart shaped chocolates, and other treats. It's interesting how a concept like "love" can be reduced to phrases like, "Be mine" "True love" and "One and only." (Personally, my favorite part is the chocolate!) Certainly, it's fun and sweet to give one another cards and gifts on February 14. But on the whole, the holiday is a yearly reminder that love in our culture stands in stark contrast to Biblical love. 

In studying for my forthcoming book, I spent some time in the book of 1 John. Written by the author of the gospel of John and Revelation, 1 John is written to believers to help them test the genuineness of their faith. One of three tests mentioned in the book is that of love. And unlike the phrases stamped on conversation hearts and rhymes on Valentine cards, it takes John more than a few words to describe the love God has for us, the love we have for God, and the love we ought to have for one another.  

This is Love: 4 Truths about Love from 1 John

Love is rooted in the gospel: "In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another" (4:11-12). Love begins with God's love for us. As Ephesians 1 says, "in love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ" (vs. 4-5). We didn't love God first, he loved us when we were still sinners, "but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). We love because God first loved us (4:19). Our love for God and others is rooted in God's love expressed for us through Jesus Christ.

God is love: "Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love" (4:8). To understand what love is, we have to look to God because he is love. John goes on to describe God's love, "In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him" (4:9). God showed us what his love is by giving us his Son. "By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us" (3:16). 

If we love God, we will love one another: "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God" (4:7). The love we have for others is a natural overflow of our love for God. It's a litmus test of our faith. "If we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us" (4:12). "We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers" (3:14). In fact, it is this love for others that shows the world we are Christ's followers. As Jesus said in John 13:35, "By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." 

Love reveals itself in action, not words: "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth" (3:16-18). Love is more than saying, "I love you." It is revealed in the way we treat others. When we lay down our lives for one another, sacrificing time, effort, money, and our very selves, it demonstrates our love.  

The book of 1 John would make a lengthy card this Valentine's Day but it sums up love well. As we give our spouses and loved ones candy, cards, and other heart shaped confections, let's remember that true love is more than a catch phrase stamped on a piece of candy. It is a life poured out for another, as Christ poured out his life for us.