Living with Mystery

Living with Mystery

Welcome to this first episode of Living with Mystery. It is available as a podcast too on the website. Or, if you think it will prove beneficial then you can subscribe to it on the main platforms or via an RSS feed.

All I am attempting to do on the Living with Mystery website is bible based. To save you having to look up text references, and in case you are on the move, I will quote the bible passage I use. 

This first episode is based on readings from Colossians 1:25 to chapter 2:3.

Living with Mystery

I have become its servant, by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness – the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:25-27)

My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. (Colossians 2:2-3)

I thought that to begin this series, I ought to try and explain why the website has the title “Living with Mystery”. It wasn’t until later in life that living with mystery came to mean something important to me. All of us will experiences ups and downs in life. There are extra ups and downs as a Christian: believing in God, relating to a church, dealing with opposition, facing unexpected trials, discovering one’s own weaknesses and finally facing death. It becomes apparent as you meet these experiences that you don’t have answers to everything. 

I think in our educated Western world, living with mystery is much harder to accept. We have become somewhat arrogant, thinking that through science and technology we can understand how the universe and life work. We produce explanations for everything. In fact, we feel insecure if we can’t explain something. 

But there comes a moment for the honest person, when we have to acknowledge what we don’t understand. There seems no reason for some of the things that happen to us, especially personal tragedies and difficulties. My wife and I had to face this with miscarriage, a child born with a serious congenital condition and also facing cancer. At one point in middle-age, we had no settled home or employment, and were living hand-to-mouth for 2 years.

meaning

Perhaps where we really get stuck is searching for meaning in life. Even if we imagine we have everything we could ever want, still something is missing. We might look at the night sky, unable to comprehend the colossal size of the universe. We might gaze into a sunset, or revel in the panorama of a mountain landscape and yet find no explanation as to why these things appear so beautiful to us.

Possibly the greatest human mystery is love. Why do we love some things and not others? Why does a mother love her baby so much? Are these really just random chemical processes in the brain or are they something beyond that? For the Christian, of course, we believe that God is love: a mystery we can explore for ever.

What I don’t want to pretend is that the Christian faith gives all the answers. It does not! I find it rare these days for people to admit when asked a question, that they don’t know the answer. However, I am totally confident to state that God does know it. However, he does not always reveal this knowledge to us. And this is where we have to learn to live with mystery. Mystery bridges the gap between the limits of the human mind, and the unlimited mind of God.

hope

The word ‘mystery’ in the bible has the meaning of “something which is known only by those who are initiated”. This might sound as though it is exclusive to just a few, but as our bible reading showed, mystery can be revealed to all whose hearts are open to God; as we read:)

the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. (Colossians 1:26)

the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27)

And in the next chapter we heard the same thing: 

that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ (Colossians 2:2)

The mystery is Jesus. If we come to know Jesus, then we are touching the mystery. And the mystery is not just vaguely out there: the mystery is Christ in you. This is an astounding thing: Christ dwells in people through the presence of the Holy Spirit.

peace

Now how does all this have a practical benefit? Chiefly, it is a road to discovering peace. Peace was promised to us by Jesus who said:

‘I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.’ (John 16:33)

Peace does not always come with an explanation. Peace does not always provide a reason. Peace is not a promise of a trouble-free life. Peace is a state of rest in our spirits: it is a reassurance that whatever is happening, Christ is still in you. 

Peace is a fruit of living with mystery. It comes as day after day we express to our Lord implicit faith and trust in him. When the next big test comes, we may be taken aback by what we are facing; but we learn to look to that reservoir of peace within and be calmed. This is a lifelong learning exercise. 

When we had the cancer scare, after the tests and before driving to be told the results, as I knelt and prayed, what came to me was the word “benign”. I didn’t know what that word meant and had to look it up. Sure enough, that was the verdict: it was not that serious. It was a lesson of peace at a time of extreme anxiety.

purpose

Not only will we not be able to understand or explain everything that God does in our lives, but also, we shall not be able to explain the gospel of Jesus completely. There is mystery in the gospel message which the Holy Spirit helps to make sense of. The apostle Paul showed this in his request for prayer:

Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. (Ephesians 6:19-20)

When someone believes in Jesus, they have to accept a massive amount of mystery in terms of what is happening to them. Of course, if they also experience a dose of incomparable divine love and peace with it, this makes it easier. But the gospel also leads us to expect more of God’s mysterious working in our lives as we grow in faith. 

I mean, how was Paul to make sense of being in prison when he wanted to be out and about preaching the gospel? We now understand that mystery of course: in prison he composed his letters and, more than all of his preaching, they have contributed to the mystery of the gospel being communicated to billions of people.

Living with mystery is a calling, a privilege, an education and a lifestyle. My hope is that this series will help us all to engage with God’s purposes in our lives.

So, let me finish with this blessing from the last verse of 2 Corinthians:

“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” Amen.