By: Elizabeth Haarberg

Knowns and Unknowns

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking this SoundCloud link.

The mysteries of Christianity are numerous, but our human minds have a tendency to focus on what we have read and learned. What about the parts we do not focus on, the details in the Bible that very few talk about or broach? Are those pieces any different than the pieces emphasized?

And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.” Matthew 13:10-11 English Standard Version

The hard part of a mystery is the knowledge that there may not be a way to solve it. Mysteries continue to remain just that, mysterious, until they are answered. The human brain is an extensive network looking backward to the past, the present, and into the future, which is why the mystery is constantly trying to be solved. What if the mystery will always be unknown? Can we find peace in that knowledge?

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Isaiah 55:8-9 English Standard Version

But then we read a verse like the one below.

“So then, let us [apostles] be looked upon as ministering servants of Christ and stewards (trustees) of the mysteries (the secret purposes) of God.”
1 Corinthians 4:1 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition

Even though we are not God, in God’s divine wisdom there are some hints along the way of what is revealed to those who follow Jesus. As I’m typing this, I’m realizing there may not be an action to take but more of a thought or processing of deeper faith in God, trust in Jesus, and an activation of the Holy Spirit. Press in!

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado