04/29/2023
What will we become when Jesus returns? What awaits us in faith when we rise from slumber tomorrow, or for that matter, what does the next hour have in store for us? Our faith is not something that can be predicted or calculated, and God awaits around every bend with a new treasure.
“Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.”
1 John 3:2 KJV
We can only imagine what Jesus looks like. There are no paintings or photographs, and as much as we would like the shroud of Turin to be authentic, there is still much doubt. In fact, despite God's written Word in the Bible, there is much mystery in our faith. Does this disappoint you? Are you the type person who needs black and white reality... firm boundaries that can be predicted day to day? Well our faith is full of question and discovery; as a matter of fact it is much like the physical world in that regard.
Recently I read an article published by the National Geographic describing the quest to determine what made certain individuals genius. What is it about the Einsteins, and the Bachs that is so different from the norm? Is it a surprise to you that after spending incredible resource on this task they are no closer to that discovery than they were when they began? All there is to show for their efforts is an interesting article in a magazine.
The world is full of mystery... what causes disease? What lies at the bottom of the ocean? What is the composition of the earth's core? Where is the confederate treasure that was hidden at the end of the Civil War? Why can't we decipher the Voynich manuscript? What is the location of Atlantis? And, what is the actual size of the universe? Each of these is an example of mystery in the world, and there are many more. So why do mysteries of faith unsettle us?
Mysteries of our faith are many too... what did Jesus look like? When will Jesus return? Where is Moses buried? What happened to Eden? Who were the giants mentioned in Genesis? Where are the 10 lost tribes of Israel? The list of mysteries is long and yet we still try to live our spiritual lives as if we could define them to the tee... we separate faith from belief and tend to call on it when it serves us, but actually it is the very core of our spiritual journey. Our God surprises us with glimpses of himself and new meaning hidden in His Word every moment of every day. This isn't meant to frustrate us, but to spark and fill us with wonder.
We think of the acceptance of mystery as childlike. Only children believe in Santa Clause, and the tooth fairy is the fantasy of a child. In many cases that presumption is true, but children also accept mysteries such as the ascension of Jesus, that three wise men followed a star to Bethlehem, and that the virgin birth happened just as told. Their faith doesn't depend on determining how a body could rise into the air, if a comet was the star that the magi followed, or how Mary might have received the other half of the DNA needed to make a child without losing her virginity. Jesus valued this unconditional faith of children, and He does in us as well...
“And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 18:2-3 KJV
To believe in something unseen is faith, and it is one of the greatest gifts we have been given. It is the starting point from which God begins to reveal to us the reality of Himself. He doesn't begin with fact, but in mystery. The Bible begins with a mystery too. From what did God create, and where did He come from in the first place?
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
Genesis 1:1 KJV
So mystery begins our journey to reality, and we excitedly accept each spoon full of it as it is offered to us, but before any of this occurs we must become like children; we must have amazing faith; we must have it to such a degree that it brings us to believe; we must know beyond doubt that God exists in the depths of our hearts.
“Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”
John 20:29 KJV
Oswald Chambers commented on this and I will close this morning with his thought...
"We are not uncertain about God, but uncertain of what He is going to do next. If we are only certain in our beliefs, we get dignified and severe and have the ban of finality about our views, but when we are rightly related to God, life is full of spontaneous, joyful uncertainty and expectancy." - Oswald Chambers
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for the faith and the mystery you surround me with. I thank you for the wonder of discovering you every day of my life, and I pray that the excitement of knowing you better is endless. Holy Father you are the one truth I hold as complete. You have placed the knowledge of yourself in us at creation, and as a result of that truth I seek you without end. Lord, I don't understand, but bless me in my ignorance, and allow me to believe those things I can't see... even as you begin to reveal them to me out of the mysterious mist that shrouds me. Thrill me each day with discovery as I search your Word, and in your creation as I walk through it each day. Let me love you Father when we are together, and equally when I can't see you. You are Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end; and you are the mystery as well as its revelation in every reality. Praised be your name as I seek to know it.
Rich Forbes