Mystery

There is an old story told about a hunter who met a woodcutter in the forest. Inquiring, he asks, "Have you seen any lion tracks in these woods?"

"As a matter of fact," the woodcutter replies, "I can lead you right to the lion himself."

The hunter seemed surprised at the possibility of seeing a lion face to face.

Stammering, he responded, "It's.....it's the tracks I'm looking for, not the lion."

This story intrigues me.

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, a 19th century German philosopher reacted strongly against Christianity because he saw it as systematized idolatry where "believers" were more in love with their theology than with God.

Here is another way of looking at it.

I think that there are those that are more interested in the "tracks" than they are finding the "lion."

I think that it is more convenient to look for "evidences" of God rather than looking for God.

I think that there are those that are more comfortable worshipping the expressions of the faith than worshipping the author of the faith.

Here is my confession.

I want to move from a religion that seeks to comprehend God and move toward a relationship that seeks to encounter God. That is a fine distinction, but it is cataclysmic in its importance.

Here are a couple of statements that I ran across in my reading this week. See what you think. Be careful not to answer them until you have given them some thought.

Are you ready?

1. Being a Christian is more about relationship with God than beliefs about God.

2. Being a Christian is more about the presence of God than the proofs of God.

3. Being a Christian is more about knowing God's activities than knowing God's attributes.

"Do you think you can explain the mystery of God? Do you think you can diagram God Almighty? God is far higher than you can imagine, far deeper than you can comprehend, Stretching farther than earth's horizons, far wider than the endless ocean." Job 11:7

It's a mystery to me!