Here is the revelation that is shaping my life today- we all know we need, desire, and are made for love. But how to be loved seems to be a mystery we are unable to solve, rather than a mystery we simply embrace in all its amazingness and greatness.
1 Timothy 3:16 TPT
For the mystery of righteousness is truly amazing!…… Yes, great is this mystery of righteousness!
Observation
Mystery to some refers to something that one cannot get hold of. But mystery is embraced not by the rigours of understanding. That is the death of mystery. Instead, mystery is embraced in the hands of faith, something we all possess and have the choice to exercise.
Righteousness, being in right relationship with God, is not a formula of good performance, it is not an earned position, it is not a pursuit that one undertakes. It is a mystery.
It is offered to all humanity without discretion. It is indestructible, held and made available by the one who offers it. It is freely available. It is a mystery.
It is not of me, it is not by me, it is for me. It is a mystery.
This is why Christianity is called a faith, because it is built on the mystery of receiving righteousness based on the mystery of it being offered by God through Jesus. Faith believes in mystery and holds it as truth. Faith takes the hand of mystery and walks in it. Faith lays aside the demands of intellectual investigation for the beauty of mystery.
In a world of earn, deserve, worthiness, and self-effort, right relationship with God becomes a formula, and formula destroys mystery and puts me in control. It equips me to judge self and others, and I always do this harshly. It equips me to determine who is in and who is out, and I always embrace those who are like me and leave those who are not out. It gives me power and control, and I always exercise these badly. Maybe that is why love made it a mystery that all is about love’s doing.
God holds out right relationship with him to any who would embrace the beauty of the mystery that it has been done for you in Jesus, and it is held secure for you in what he has done. All this leaves me is to live in gratitude, peace and worship. “The mystery of righteousness is truly amazing.”
Love herself, never discriminates the one she desires, so she makes no demands upon the recipient of her love, but rather makes completely open the way to her love, through the mystery of gifted righteousness. Love doesn’t set hurdles, love doesn’t make assessments, love doesn’t give tests, love simply, beautifully, truly amazingly, makes the way to her arms always open for any who would come. If there is a demand it is to live in the mystery of being loved without cause.
The spiritual part of my brain embraces this mystery. It is not a data-informed investigation but a chosen and received encounter that personally experiences the truth of the mystery that love has embraced me as I am. And in this place of peace with God, I know at a level of consciousness that is superior to intellect investigation, that love holds me close and adores me, and that this is not of my doing. This is where truly living begins. “The mystery of righteousness is truly amazing.”
Application
I will never question my right standing with love. I will never remove myself from love’s embrace based on some measures that I enact. I will by faith live in the mystery of being completely, always, and indestructibly loved.
This changes all of life. Being embraced by love I discover my truest identity and reflect its beauty in my world. I live and do life from the place of my design, being loved and being love.
Response
Thank you for mystery embraced not performance made righteousness. I would never make the grade. Thank you that the mystery of righteousness holds me in forever right with you.
Meditation
Meditate – the mystery of righteousness is truly amazing!
Consider:
How often is your right standing with God put under the microscope of performance and questioned?
Have you received by faith the mystery of being loved by God in a way that is never challenged and continually shaping you?
JOURNEY DEEPER