Solving The Mystery!

I had the pleasure yesterday afternoon of traveling by way of the internet to the suburbs around Los Angelos to attend the funeral of an aunt on my mother’s side of the family.  I can’t really say that I had a personal relationship with her as I had only met her on a few occasions through the years, but rather that I knew her quite well through all the stories of childhood adventures that my mom regularly shared with us. 

She and my mom were cousins, were very close, were the outgoing one’s in the family and thereby shared many adventurous experiences together through the years until my mom and dad married and moved from my mom’s home state of New York to my dad’s home in California, in the late 1940’s.

In the years that followed they stayed in contact through letters and regular phone calls until my mom’s passing in 2012.  Both sides of my family come from very active and devout Catholic backgrounds and the funeral mass was held at St Jude Catholic Church in Westwood, California, in a beautiful setting, a few miles northwest of Los Angelos.

It was a beautiful and touching service where many of the memories and joys of my aunt’s life were shared.  Watching the service brought back many warm memories of my childhood and the countless Catholic services, activities and events that our family participated in throughout my childhood… and even after Piper and I were married and I became a card-carrying Baptist, I stayed involved as the staff photographer for the local Catholic Diocese newspaper and took pictures of various events and services all around our county.

It all came back, the deep reverence, the pageantry, the wonderful music and the sense of awe that always seemed to permeate the beautiful sanctuary with its tall ceilings, stained glass windows, elegant statues and banks of candles.  I was personally touched by the beautiful piano playing that brought me back to the way in which my wife Piper could literally make the piano keys strike the strings in such a way as to sing in worship unto the Lord.  One of my aunt’s nieces also played the violin and then sang with a wonderful operatic voice that reminded me of Piper’s mom’s beautiful voice that would bring tears to your eyes when she hit the high notes with such strength and clarity of pitch and tone.

And while it was a tremendous witness to the life and blessings of my aunt, it also brought back the personal memories of the things that were missing in my faith… and longed for… even though I couldn’t explain it as such at the time!  The priest was very welcoming, eloquent and personable in the words that he spoke (and sang… he had a very good voice!  I had never heard the entire Eucharist service- ie; communion – sung before!  It almost reminded me of a Hollywood musical & I rather enjoyed it!).

But when he explained and shared some thoughts with the various scriptures that were read, I immediately picked up that old sense of a somewhat impersonal, distant and even mysterious gospel that had left me hungering for more of God when I was in high school… And as I’ve shared many times before… until I met this cute, bubbly and exciting young lady who lived with a passion for life and a love for Jesus that I had NEVER experienced nor heard of before.

In Corinthians 4:13 the Apostle Paul exclaimed,

“But we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed, and therefore I spoke.” So we also believe, and therefore we also speak!” (TPT)

Piper’s faith spoke with every word she uttered and through every action she took, and that’s why her life and being in her presence was so exciting to me!  It wasn’t uncomfortable, it wasn’t pushy, it wasn’t argumentative but just a part of who she was… and it is EXACTLY what I wanted!  I didn’t want to know God from a distance anymore... I wanted to solve the mystery of knowing Him.

In Mark 4:11 Jesus declared that,

“The MYSTERY about the kingdom of God has been given directly to you…”

And in Romans 16:25-26 Paul explained that,

“God can strengthen you by the Good News and the message I tell about Jesus Christ. He can strengthen you by revealing the MYSTERY that was kept in silence for a very long time but now is publicly known…” (both verses from God’s Word ©)

You see… we don’t have to look in from afar anymore.  The New Testament writers spoke about and explained the MYSTERY of the gospel at least 27 times.  It’s all there in red, black and white!

I felt that old ache that I had felt in my heart for many years until I saw the answer living before me with brown hair, freckles and a laugh and a smile that came from a heart filled with the love of Christ that would melt my heart in a moment!  I no longer have a distant and mysterious relationship with my God anymore… HOW ABOUT YOU?

Romans 10:9-10 tells us how to achieve a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  It’s really rather simple with a verbal confession and an act of the heart.  Paul tells us,

“That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved, for with the heart man/women believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he/she confesses, resulting in salvation.” (NASB)

It is that easy… but while the conversion and sense of freedom and inner joy is instantaneous, maturity and understanding in the things and ways of the kingdom of God grow within us as we regularly fellowship with the Lord in His Word, find and attend a good Bible believing and Bible teaching church and surround ourselves with other believers!  And the exciting thing is… that you’ll want to do all those things… and the more you do them, the more you’ll grow in understanding, wisdom, peace and joy!

It was the answer that I was longing for… and I believe it can be for you as well!  Have a great week, and as you do… keep EXPECTING God’s best in your life!