Embracing the Glorious Mystery

Col.2:2 - That their hearts might be comforted; being knit together in love, and unto all the riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;

There are many new age and old age meditation techniques being taught today and many of them attempt to keep a link to the Christian faith. Opening one’s mind to everything and anything is sometimes embraced as a way to enter the spirit realm and even to commune with Jesus Himself. These mind melding practices are worldly at best and demonic at worst. They should be avoided and renounced by any believing follower of the Lord Jesus who desires to be faithful to God’s Word.

But this post is not about those mysticisms, no, this post is about the knee jerk reaction that has some Christians avoiding the Christian practice of meditation and being challenged and edified by continuing to be aware of the spiritual presence of the Lord Jesus not only in our everyday lives, but in a special time of communion in our prayer lives. Do not ever remove the mystery that supernaturally interacts with born again followers of Christ Jesus because if the eternal mystery is brushed aside then what you are left with is a dry and earthy religion that resembles more of a theology lesson and less of a powerful and intimate and sometimes fear instilling relationship with the Creator God Himself.

Now before you light the candles and get into the lotus position keep reading.

Now when we as Christians speak of meditation we in no way mean an opening of our minds to thoughts and impressions from unknown sources, and we surely don‘t mean go see what the Hindus and Buddhists do and copy them, God forbid. We mean meditating primarily on God’s Word, its truth, its essence, its power, its application, and even its glory. And then there is the meditating upon the Lord Jesus Himself, His majesty, His cross, His resurrection, His second coming, His love, His mercy, His power, His authority, and many, many other attributes that the Holy Spirit will use to draw us to a clearer revelation of our Wonderful Lord. And these meditations should translate into surrendered worship and acts of love and obedience, for if they do not then they are just useless musings of a distracted mind.

And all the meditative thoughts will always exist within the parameters of God’s revealed Word and if there comes new and extra-biblical revelations they come from the fleshly mind of the person or worse yet the spirits of disobedience. And meditating upon the Lord and His Word should be an enhancement to study and prayer, not an easy and lazy replacement. But there is a place in the Spirit that can lift a believer out of the usual and minister to his spirit in a miraculous and even mysterious way.

God is a Spirit. Go ahead and just define for me a spirit. Invisible smoke? Tangible material or intangible presence? And if we agree that God’s Spirit is everywhere at all times, explain how then the Holy Spirit reduces a part of His presence to enter into the spirit of a believer while retaining the omnipresence He has always had. Alright, stop, please, we think more highly of ourselves when we attempt to capture an infinite mystery in the puny mind of a man. That is why it is so entertaining to watch us try and explain, for instance, the Trinity. Three persons but one God. One God in three revelations of the same person. Egg shell, yoke, white. Again, stop, it is a mystery that is beyond human explanation and as a matter of fact it is one of the mysteries God either chose not to explain or couldn’t teach us on our level. God Himself is THE mystery Who has condescended to reveal Himself to us on our level but is still a mystery none the less.

So let us not approach God as a collection of doctrinal facts that complete a chain without any links that are missing from our intellect. And let us also not separate Him from His own Word and let our meditations serve as any authority. We know what God has written to us and with that we can be sure, but the glorious mystery of it all should always remain in our hearts. And sometimes, when we are praying and meditating about knowing the Lord Jesus in a deeper and more meaningful way, the Holy Spirit may just lift the veil ever so slightly to let us understand a little more about Christ and at the same time allow us to see more clearly how much we can never know this side of His throne room. There always will be a mysterious nature to our God and Father and His Son the Lord Jesus, known and yet ever learning, and the Scriptural journey matriculates the knowledge of the spirit into human communication that is sometimes simple but will ever have the fragrance of the eternal mystery which will one day be revealed to all those who love the Lord Jesus and are the called according to His purpose.

So believe on Him as Lord and Savior, offer up your petitions, witness his gospel to the ends of the earth, but always, always remember and experience the mysterious wonder of it all. He is, and was, and always will be. Oh yea, we’ve got all that cornered, just read my doctrinal statement.

Great is the mystery of godliness…

…Selah