For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Colossians 2:1-3 (ESV)
“The lack of mystery in our modern life is our downfall and our poverty. A human life is worth as much as the respect it holds for the mystery…We destroy the mystery because we sense that here we reach the boundary of our being, because we want to be lord over everything and have it at our disposal, and that’s just what we cannot do with the mystery…Living without mystery means knowing nothing of the mystery of our own life, nothing of the mystery of another person, nothing of the mystery of the world; it means passing over our own hidden qualities and those of others and the world. It means remaining on the surface, taking the world seriously only to the extent that it can be calculated and exploited, and not going beyond the world of calculation and exploitation. Living without mystery means not seeing the crucial processes of life at all and even denying them.”
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich, and Jana Riess. God Is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas. Westminster John Knox Press, 2012.
Abba,
YES….this…this insight by Bonhoeffer. We do not like mystery, the hidden, the unknown because that removes the control from us. As children, we love this mystery, this learning, this exploration, this thought that there are things we do not know and do not understand. It captures our hearts, our imaginations, our intrigue. As adults, with god complexes, with control issues….we decide that mystery has no place in our life.
Problem is, YOU are shrouded in mystery. You FOREVER will be. I am convinced that eternity will be an exploration of the mystery that You are. It is an exploration that will endure for eternity, for no matter how much we discover about You, there will always be more. And, in our limited nature, we will never fully be able to grasp the extent of your mystery.
BUT, BUT, Abba, in this mystery comes a large portion of our enjoyment of and delight in You. We keep coming back because the mystery draws us. The desire to learn and know more draws us. The discover of yet another piece of You, draws us.
As much as we know, as much as we understand, as much as You reveal to us, there is still so much that is shrouded in the mystery, the incomprehensibility of Your nature. There is this tension. For You ARE knowable. You make Yourself known. And yet, because of the vast depths of who You are, You are still cloaked in mystery, to a degree at least. It is this tension, this beautiful tension that has such allure to draw us to You. For that which is known is so glorious only beautiful that we crave to know more, to know the mystery that is the rest of You. For the rest of eternity, we will have the joy of pursuing this mystery with such childlike joy that we will never tire of the pursuit or of You. And as we race after it, all that You are for us and all that You have revealed, will continue to satiate our souls with such euphoria that we do not mind the remaining mystery. No, indeed, it will be to the great delight of our hearts.
Restore to us the joy of the mystery. Grant us the heart of a child who delights in and races after the mystery. And as you reveal ever more to us, allowing us to know Yourself, grant a joy and contentment in the wonder of the known AND of the mystery.
We love you, Abba.
Amen.
A Singular Passion 