It seems many people are certain about things that aren’t clear to me.  I am not saying that there are things I am not certain about.  I’m certain about God and that I share life with Him.  I am certain about prayer.  I know He hears when we call on His name.  I am certain about Jesus.  I am certain about the Bible.  I know it is truth and that every word of it is God breathed. 

Being certain of these things does not mean that I am certain of all things.  It seems God has allowed us to live with mystery.  I know God because of Jesus.  I would imagine that to God followers of the first century that the very coming of Jesus brought even more mystery to God.  The mystery of the trinity boggles our minds.  I believe it but do I fully understand it?

The trinity is not the only truth that brings mystery.  I know that Jesus has promised to return and gather the saints for the close of this age and the beginning of the next.  There is an awful lot I don’t know about how that will happen.  Some have that part of the future down pat.  Some of those who have it down pat differ from each other.  Someone is wrong.

Another mystery to me is the conflict between God’s predestined will and the clearly Biblical teaching that man has a choice.  I believe that both are true but I don’t know exactly how it works.  Some call these teachings Calvinism and Armenianism.   I personally do not think a Biblical teaching should be named after a man.  The term Biblical carries more weight than any human name.  I think that giving a teaching a name is an attempt to take away the mystery.  When someone asks me if I am Calvinist or Armenian I tell them I believe the Bible.  I know what they mean but why should I have to be either one?  Where the Bible is certain we should be certain.  Where the Bible leaves questions we should leave questions.  There is much of the Bible that is clear.  There is more certainty in the Bible than I could ever live and practice.  As for now I choose to leave the mystery, a mystery.

So what am I certain about?  I am certain that Jesus died for all people.  I am certain that whoever calls on His name shall be saved.  I am certain that God is sovereign.  I am certain that there is nothing beyond His power.  I am certain that God’s love extends to all His creation.

With all this certainty there is still much mystery.

Paul wrote Philipians toward the end of his life.  This great saint in the last years of his life wrote, "That I might know Him."  He was still learning about our Lord.  If Paul could still be learning to know Him, what about us?