By Chris WittsSaturday 6 Aug 2022Morning Devotions with Chris WittsFaithReading Time: 1 minute
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Transcript:
My wife and I have a cat who lives with us. She’s a very nice animal and she gives us plenty to laugh about. We enjoy her company and she’s got her own unique personality. But there’s one thing that she does, which is quite mysterious. Sometimes she hides somewhere in our four bedroom house and despite a lot of searching, we cannot find her.
She’s found a safe place away from everyone. It is a complete mystery to us. Her antics reminded me that life is on occasions, a bit of a mystery. I’m sure you’d agree with me once you start thinking about it. Life itself is not a mystery, it’s just that parts of it are.
The mysteries of life
At least that’s how I see it. I’ve heard people say, where did we come from? Why are we here? Where are we going? The mysteries of life.
The unexpected does happen to all of us, and I think that no one has all the answers today. Many hope that the computer will solve the mysteries of life, and the great hope of humanity seems to centre around this remarkable invention. However the computer, with all its ability, still can’t comprehend what a single human mind can. I’m not denigrating the marvel of computer science, it’s changed the course of our age. I’d be lost without mine. But even these great computers, with their ability to compress knowledge into microchips containing information that once only could have been printed, perhaps in whole libraries, nevertheless are still not going to solve all the problems of life. Life is just too complicated.
So where do we find some answers? What are we supposed to think? This is a huge topic. I can’t even attempt to answer on this segment. But I am glad the Christian faith doesn’t leave me fully in the dark because an understanding of God takes away much of life’s mystery. If you don’t believe in a divine creator, life will remain a mystery, and I think we must learn to live with this mystery. We’re not smart enough or we don’t see enough. We don’t understand enough, and none of our highly prized technological equipment will answer the questions.
And eventually we must agree with God’s words that say, Isaiah 55:8 And this is God speaking. “My thoughts are not your thoughts, and neither are my ways, your ways“. And I think that’s one of the most difficult lessons to learn in life.
We think that because God tells us certain things about himself, we can figure it all out. But we can’t because the Bible also says, “for as the heavens are higher than the Earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” That’s verse 9 of Isaiah 55.
The reality of our existence
God will never be false to his character. We’re just not smart enough to always figure it out. Now what if you say I’m an atheist, I’ve got no belief in your God or afterlife. My own opinion is that no one is a true atheist. In times of desperation, we will need to cry out to something beyond ourselves. After all, death is a scary subject. That’s why, having conducted many funerals myself, I’ve seen people hurry away from a funeral chapel or graveside as quickly as they can to get back to the business of life. It’s almost like they don’t want to think any more about it. Death is the biggest mystery we have to face. People forget about death.
No matter whether we are good or bad or indifferent, Death is going to come to all of us. It’s that great proof that there is something wrong about humanity. It forces us to face reality. A funeral is proof that we are not in control of our own lives. Very few of us would choose to die if we had some way of preventing it. Yet there is going to be an end to our existence when people try to live only for this life. When all the values are centred here and they see nothing beyond this life, they’re never really able to solve any of the riddles or the questions of life.
Jesus Christ is the answer to life beyond the crematorium of the graveyard. It was Jesus himself who said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me”. (John 14:6)
Let’s Pray
Dear Lord, we do admit today that life is a mystery. I look around and there are many questions I have. But, Lord, in the big issues of life, you have provided some answers, help me pursue those and to accept them in faith, Amen.