Skip to main content

Living in the Mystery

The Christian faith is one that is full of mystery. We are called to live both distinct from the world yet also bound up and involved in redeeming it. Jesus Christ, the founder and perfecter of our faith, is both completely God and completely human. We see these mysteries all the time in our faith, and at times it can be difficult to know what to make of them.

Often times are reaction to a mystery of the faith is to double down on one side or the other. Many Christians live their lives in constant fear of the world, working tirelessly to separate themselves from our culture and times. They take the call to be distinct from the world seriously but ignore the call to be bound up and involved with it. Still others do the opposite, becoming so bound up with the world that they are no longer distinct in any meaningful way.

This reaction is understandable because we don't like the unknown and uncertainty. We prefer to know where things stand, have a clear understanding of what to do, and know where the boundaries and enemies are to be avoided. Mysteries don't allow for that as much as we'd like. 

We are called to live in the mysteries of the faith. The first step is accepting that God is bigger than our understanding. This sounds like a no brainer, but in truth this is much harder to do than you might think. We all have a notion of who or what God is and we live in such a way that corresponds to that understanding. The truth is that no matter how lofty or holy your understanding of God is, it simply isn't big enough.

This is why God calls us to constantly encounter him in Bible study, worship, serving others, community, and so many other ways. One of the greatest challenges we must overcome is our own understanding of who God is. We must learn to be constantly conforming to the living God revealed in Jesus Christ and illumined by the Holy Spirit. 

This is how we start living in the mystery, knowing and trusting the living God. As we continue to grow and be shaped by him it becomes easier for us to stand in the tensions of the faith because we know all things are possible with God. It is here we must live, thrive, and remain.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thankful

Today is Thanksgiving, the day that we are supposed to celebrate all the things we are thankful for. It is a time of family reunions, football, and turkey eating. I sincerely pray that each and every one of you has a good day today. I'll admit that being thankful has not been easy for me this year. As pretty much all of you know, my mother passed away December of last year. Though she had been in the hospital for months, we were not expecting it. In fact I was sure she would be finally able to come home within a matter of weeks. Instead she peacefully passed on into the arms of Jesus, whom she loved more dearly than anyone else. As you can imagine, the entire family was heart broken. After what can easily be described as the worst Christmas ever, I returned to home to Illinois. It was here that I finally broke down. I spent the next months doing everything except being thankful. I cursed God, wept, screamed, begged to have her back, and was generally not the nicest person to be...
3 comments
Read more

Proverbs, Wisdom

Wisdom is an essential part of living a godly life. The ability to make good judgments and identify potentially sinful situations are skills all Christians should have. The Bible repeatedly emphasizes that it is the duty of parents and older Christians to pass on these skills and train younger generations in wisdom. The book of Proverbs is a book all about wisdom. The various authors of the book are trying to pass on the things they have learned to a younger generation. They want all that come after them to know that true wisdom comes from God. Background Like the book of Psalms, the book of Proverbs is a collection of various sayings and proverbs from many different people. The primary author we associate the book with is King Solomon, who wrote the most out of any single author, but he is just one of several writers. It is a very interesting book in this regard. The book of Proverbs can be tricky because it isn't always consistent in how the text flows together. Some...
Post a Comment
Read more

What is Theology?

Greetings all! For the first true post I have decided to cover what will be one of the defining aspects of this blog; theology. I know that when I was growing up theology wasn't a word that was used in the churches I attended. In fact I don't recall ever hearing the word until I was in high school, and even then it was used negatively like theology was a bad thing. Theology is inseparable from Bible study, Christian living, and being a disciple of Jesus in general. It is an indispensable part of being a Christian. The thing is we haven't always treated it that way. We have allowed our theology to fall by the wayside, believing it to be useless or not appropriate. So what is theology exactly, and why is it so important? What is Theology? The word theology simply means "the study of God." The goal of theology is to reveal who God is, and when we know God we also come to know ourselves, sin, the world, and so on. What we've done in the past (and this may ju...
1 comment
Read more