Mystery

November 13, 2024

 Most Christians and plenty of pagans are familiar with Jesus’ words in John 3:16 & 17—

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

But we aren’t quite as familiar with what he said just prior to this.

“The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

—John 3:8 

I suspect the reason we aren’t as conversant with this verse is that it isn’t something we can define, quantify, or measure. We like our world to be orderly, predictable, comfortable, but Jesus’ description of the life of the Spirit is anything but. It’s mysterious, unpredictable, unmeasurable. We can’t see it, hold it in our hands, control it. All we can do is observe its effects. But it’s those effects that are so important. One must believe in Jesus to be born again, but if that belief doesn’t translate into a life driven by the Holy Spirit, it isn’t complete. And that Holy Spirit driven life is not the safe and predictable lot we would often choose. God is a God of order, but also of surprises.

So as God brings order out of the chaos of an unredeemed life, also allow space in your heart for the mystery and wonder of redemption—that which you can’t fully explain or measure, but which is the stuff of life itself.