Everyone has had questions without answers, been puzzled and frustrated at something that we just can’t make sense out of. God, faith, death… life.
Almost everything in society is fact /control oriented. We as humans tend to get a form of temporary satisfaction from the control, facts, information we receive. Who likes to be left hanging on the edge of something unresolved? I mostly HATE it! Honestly, I WANT RESOLVE and CONTROL! I don’t know many people that don’t. I even see it in worship gatherings I’m a part of. People are afraid of letting go of what they feel they have control of – Emotions, expression, response, and yeah… worship.
There was a time not so long ago that I enjoyed life’s mysteries. I would embrace things that I didn’t fully comprehend. The world has tried to poison me (and YOU) to believe that we will find the peace and satisfaction we need in facts, logic, and control. In doing so this takes the magic out of faith. Faith isn’t faith until it’s all you’re holding on to. What if we decided that we weren’t going to let society tame our childhood belief in mystery the way that Paul talks of in Timothy 3:14? The Message translation says that “this life is a great mystery, far exceeding our understanding.” The life that follows Jesus will fall prey to the comprehension game if we don’t surrender ourselves to the mysterious awe of God that is being beaten out of us by life itself.
We might be able to get a form of comfort from knowledge, but there will come a longing for supernatural mystery. That’s when I want to step back and let awe for the Creator overwhelm me. If He is the beginning and the end, we should have peace knowing that HE KNOWS ALL, and that we don’t have to. That probably won’t stop us from trying to know it all though. I guess we can hope and trust that through walking out our faith in a real world, God will meet us where we are and guide us with His Spirit to mystery, reality, logic, and truth.
I wonder what would happen if we didn’t live by ego, pride, control. What if we weren’t crippled by narcissism? Yeah, it’s a mystery but it’s a mystery that I want to try and live with. Wilde said that “Skepticism is the beginning of Faith.” We’ve also heard that “Faith is the evidence of things unseen”. If “wonder is the basis of worship”, maybe we need to allow ourselves to be astonished once again.
Chad Jarnagin
Whit
June 28, 2011 at 9:39 am
Thanks for the post, Chad. I’ve been thinking about control as a means of contentment a good deal lately, subsequently blaming a lack of control on stress and tension. Isn’t strange how the very thing we proclaim gives us peace and joy in our worship is often treated as the opposite in our day-to-day lives.
chadjarnagin
June 28, 2011 at 10:01 pm
well stated my friend. you tend to find insightful angles. thanks for this.
John
June 28, 2011 at 10:06 pm
This is a good post. I’m not entirely sure how practical this all is though. If it weren’t for control, nothing would ever get done. I think I get what you are trying to say, but I would dare say that God helps those who help themselves. He gave US brains to think and ambition to pursue life to the fullest in Christ, correct?
Whit
June 29, 2011 at 9:33 am
I think you’re talking about responsibility. There’s a difference between doing the responsible, logical, “I need to do this so I can eat” things God expects us to do and the white-knuckled need to eleminate any sort of variable or openness to God’s often mysterious and unexpected doings. As I see it, Chad is talking about control as an unwillingness to abandon plans at God’s leading.
chadjarnagin
July 2, 2011 at 10:47 am
yeah. I think Whit got it… hope you didn’t miss the point here John.
thank you for taking your time to comment. I would love to hear more of where you are coming from with this.