TAKE TWO

 
This is my second attempt at this idea and I'm guessing more will be needed. Paul's calling the Gospel a mystery didn't make it so. Paul was simply expressing a nugget of truth he had discovered. One that all who dare to follow Christ will encounter. While I am willing to argue that my faith is a reasonable one, not a foundation-less belief in some fairy tale or vague legend that has been verbally passed down for generations, it nevertheless, leaves me scratching my head a bit. When I apply faith to the compelling evidence of Jesus being who He says He is, I enter a new life. Not a life lived according to a different set of rules and regulations, but a life changed. Not perfect, but being moved to a more Christ-like place. Not through shock treatments and sleep deprived emotional encounters, but through my awareness of God's activity in my life. As I explore this intellectually, I am left with some illogical notions that seem to be, nevertheless, true. Isa. 1:18 says, "Come now, and let us reason together", says the Lord. (then Isaiah goes on to present an UNreasonable offer)
"Though your sins be as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; 
Though they be red, like crimson, They will be like wool ......."
 While God is unspeakably powerful and beyond our understanding and is Holy, (that is to say fully righteous or perfect, complete, if you will), according to Isaiah God isn't saying get your life in order and come back later to finish our little talk here. He doesn't turn His head away from our lives in disgust but presents us with an offer He calls reasonable. Then Isaiah beautifully exposes God's love and forgiveness with the "reasonable" offer that is presented. An offer that I suggest finds its most satisfying expression in Jesus. This is indeed the mystery. Our Perfect, Holy, God is orchestrating the most scandalous of propositions. The perfect man marrying a prostitute and unconditionally loving her. And just to add to the mysteriousness of it, on the wedding day, we get to wear white.
(If you're a music lover, like me, listen to the 2003 song titled "Wearing White" recorded by Martina McBride. It's a great companion to this idea.)
Thank you and have a nice day. 
 

Faith

OK, so here we go. Headed toward a goal with no clear path to get there. I had an idea this morning as I lay awake in a half conscious state. I hope I can bring some sort of cognitive resolution to this picture of faith that stumbled across my neural-pathways. While not constantly thinking of death, I have always been somewhat pragmatic and, if I may, observant, as to the inevitability of death. It is not at all uncommon for one's physical life to eventually come to an end. So common is this that one is compelled to consider it unavoidable. Which, oddly enough, causes some people to try to avoid considering it.
Look with me, if you will, at an illustration which will offer, hopefully, a picture of one aspect of my understanding of life, and faith. An electrician friend has constructed a simple circuit to demonstrate how electricity can be used to produce light using an incandescent light bulb. You have no real knowledge of electron theory. How electrons flow across a conductor to equal out an imbalance of electrical potential. You have no idea what a coulomb is nor do you know the basic formula for figuring out how to make the light bulb come on. How the switch is wired. None of that. You are totally in the dark, (no pun intended), with the exception of your relationship with your friend and your trust in his knowledge on the subject. Well, your friend is sick the day of the big demonstration where your friend's work is to be revealed to many important people. He has asked you to go in his stead and, at the appropriate time, just flip the switch. A simple task to which you agree. As the moment approaches your anxiety level begins to rise. You sit through all the opening remarks sensing the quick elevation of anticipation as these leaders are considering, if this is all true, how this discovery will change life for them and their countrymen. An introduction of your friend follows with an added apology for his absence in light of his current sickness. Now a brief introduction of you as you are asked to please demonstrate this most wondrous of discoveries. Your heart is racing as your ignorance of how this all works is now occupying your whole being. You are only to flip the switch, that's it, but your lack of knowledge of how it works is now fostering doubt and concern. Your thoughts fall back to your friend, who you trust absolutely, and his expertise, which is unquestionable. So you walk up to the switch and flip it up. The light bulb comes on accompanied by a sudden, collective gasp from the observers. It worked! The light came on demonstrating your friends discovery.
We have precious little knowledge of heaven. None, actually, outside of what Jesus has offered us. But He is indeed a trustworthy source, and our relationship with Him should reassure us as we consider our physical mortality.

Romans 8: 38,39
Paul writes:"For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Do you know Christ well enough to join Paul in this statement?