Mystery
One of my favorite mysteries is an old Sherlock Holmes story about a murdered man and a stolen horse. It's called The Adventure of Silver Blaze. One of the things I love about it is that the clue that Sherlock Holmes recognized that opened up the whole case for him was not something that happened, but rather something that didn’t happen. It's a fun detective story; you should check it out sometime.
Even if you don’t, the truth of life is that you will have more than your fair share of mysteries.
That is not an entirely bad thing. Mysteries are a sort of double-edged sword in life. Some can be a lot fun. They give us a chance to solve problems or find solutions or invent things, and that is all good stuff of life from where I’m sitting. But other mysteries in our lives aren’t so good. Especially the ones that never get solved. Especially the ones where we are left with pain and nagging, unanswered questions.
The mysteries of life can break you. But they can also make you.
In the true story that is our lives there is a mystery that is so big and so important that every other mystery of life is found somewhere inside of this one. Once upon a time, everything was perfect. Then a horrible thing happened and things weren’t perfect anymore. In fact, it was kind of awful. So God did the one thing that could be done to make things perfect again. And right now in this moment—as we walk and talk and eat and sleep and laugh and cry and live and die—both the perfect and the awful are happening at the same time. And all of life is moving towards a final event in which that which is awful will be ended forever and perfection will be established for all of eternity.
It is certainly a double-edged sword, this mystery in which we live. But it is a glorious mystery in which you can find freedom that you have never known.
“This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.”
-Ephesians 3:6
