Faithful on Fridays Blog

This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 1 Cor. 4:1

What makes a good mystery? Solving a riddle, a whodunit, questions to answer and problems to solve? Christian teaching may baffle us, elude our understanding, yet we are taught that we are stewards, in management positions, of the mysteries or secrets of God’s grace.

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace … 1 Peter 4:10

The spiritual grace-gifts, charismata, are given by the Holy Spirit for the purpose of building up and encouraging each other. Good managers are consistently growing in the knowledge of Christ and His teachings to strengthen ourselves and others. Whether you’re a family leader, participate in a small group, teach or preach to others, you should faithfully grow in your understanding of the mysteries of God.

What mysteries?

Think about these: God is a trinity, three persons, one God, how’s that possible? Jesus resides in heaven beside His Father but is also in us (Col. 1:27). Pause and reflect on that nugget.

Or these: We have free will but God is also sovereign, Satan used his free will to defy God before sin, or the Father and Jesus are one (John 17:21). Really? Those are samples of mysterious truths the Bible teaches; sometimes they’re beyond our understanding, even unsearchable, but other times we’re told we can understand them.

And when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parables. And He said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God but for those outside everything is in parables, Mark 4:10-12

Believers in Jesus Christ are given a special dispensation of understanding God’s mysteries; not all of them but certainly some of them. Paul used this word twenty one times so we know it’s important.

… making known to us the mystery of His will, Eph. 1:9

… how the mystery was made known to me by revelation … When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, … This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs … and to bring to light to everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God … Eph. 3:3a, 4, 6a, 9a

By sheer definition mysteries are to be kept secret since they are often concealed from some but revealed to others. That’s part of the role of the Holy Spirit; He reveals truth to believers in order to help us grow in Him.

As we dig into this topic my prayer for you is:

… that your hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Col. 2:2-3