Friday, January
11, 2019
When I first came to you, dear brothers and sisters, I didn’t use lofty words and impressive wisdom to tell you God’s secret plan. For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified. I came to you in weakness—timid and trembling. And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit. I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God. Yet when I am among mature believers, I do speak with words of wisdom, but not the kind of wisdom that belongs to this world or to the rulers of this world, who are soon forgotten. No, the wisdom we speak of is the mystery of God—his plan that was previously hidden, even though he made it for our ultimate glory before the world began. But the rulers of this world have not understood it; if they had, they would not have crucified our glorious Lord. That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. 1 Corinthians 2:1-10(NLT)
Mystery and secrets – have I got
your attention now? Musterion is the
Greek word Paul used that we translate as “mystery”; it isn’t something hard to
understand or figure out…it’s quite simple, once you have the key.
I never liked the way the
entertainment industry teases you with coming attractions; they sensationalize next
week’s show with what promises to be the best, ever! Then, they manage to come up with an
unashamed tease for the following week that will be the best ever…ever! All clouds, little rain!
God, unlike Hollywood,
however, always delivers on His promises.
The difference is that God reveals the key to the secret before he asks
the question. God showed up in a manger
as our answer to life’s riddle about death, life and what can be done about our
lives; then he asked the question: Do
you believe?
When Paul showed up in Corinth he’d
had enough of intellectual debate with scholars and the elite. Paul decided he’d simply declare the
unambiguous Gospel, unencumbered by big words.
He told his listeners how Jesus came to us, was crucified
by us, rose from the dead to save us, and is coming
back for us.
This is hardly a James Patterson
mystery novel, or a Steven King story, or a Stephen Hawking physics theorem; it’s
plain enough for a child to understand. Therein
is the difference between what we humans usually trust, promises from human
experience (what we can see, but don’t understand and can’t fix), over gifts
from heaven (what we can’t see because we refuse to see, and don’t need to fix,
only accept).
Why we refuse to accept the
simple, unvarnished truth about God’s deep secrets of Jesus being the answer to
our problems, personal, cultural, and eternal, is a complete mystery to me!
For You Today
Are you confused by why we have so
much violence, anger, hatred, and separation in our world? It’s no mystery in a culture rejecting
Christ!
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