A Good Mystery

I am an avid reader. Some may consider it quite unusual that a former high school math teacher also loves to read. I guess that shows one can love many things – the thrill of perfectly dividing two polynomials using synthetic division (smiles from all the math teachers) while at the same time being so engrossed in the plot of a great narrative that you feel you should add the characters in the story to your Christmas card list (English teachers can relate). 

Of the books I like to read, there are times a good mystery fits the bill. The ones that leave you baffled and overwhelmed as you try to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. Well, there is a mystery that continues to elude me – it is the mystery of the love of Jesus for humanity! I can’t understand how He loves me. I don’t believe I will ever be able to comprehend this mystery on this side of eternity.

I believe the Apostle Paul felt the same when thinking of the mystery of the love of God. He wrote a letter to the church in Ephesus that shared his thoughts, and if you have been around me for more than five minutes you know that I LOVE this passage. The Lord branded it on my heart years ago and continues to render me speechless as He has displayed this truth in my life many, many times.

Will you read these words fromEphesians 3:14-21CloseEphesians 3:14-21 When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father,* the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.* I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen. OPEN VERSE IN BIBLE (nlt) (ESV) with care:

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,  may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”

I don’t want to waste time searching for an explanation to the mystery of God’s love, but rather I want to fall on my face in praise and appreciation for the love of Jesus that transpires all understanding. I don’t want the unknown of life and current circumstances to overshadow the truth that God’s love is big and powerful.

If His incomprehensible love isn’t amazing enough, he also displays that love is an abundance we can’t contain. He puts his love into action and does so much for us, more than we can ask or think - beyond our biggest dreams!

Priscilla Shirer said, “God is Able. Time and again, He has proven very plainly to me that He is not held down by what holds us.”

Dear friends – may the mystery of the love of Jesus fall fresh on you today like the sweet breath of His presence and may you be fueled by a display of His abundance!

Copyright © 2020 Mika Edwards, used with permission.