On This Day: Understanding the Kingdom Secrets

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, so that
“‘they may indeed see but not perceive,
    and may indeed hear but not understand,
lest they should turn and be forgiven.’”
And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? (Mark 4:11-13)

   I love coming to God’s word (the Bible) day after day and anticipating what God will teach me. Sometimes what I learn is of the “I’ve never noticed that before” category, and other times it’s one of those “Oh, is that what that means?” lessons.

   What stood out this morning was the variety of words that are synonyms of “understand”. Psalm 111:10 says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding.” In speaking of the Messiah, Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 11:2 “And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.”

   Both understanding and knowing are central to our new life in Christ. So, how is God ministering that to me today (and hopefully to you)? 

   This comes after listening to a podcast yesterday while I was sorting photos for the daycare. The title intrigued me, but the content left me in the dust of people who knew things that went way beyond my knowledge of doctrine and theology. 

   But this is why Jesus said the kingdom of God was given to the poor in spirit, to those who mourn, to the meek, to those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matthew 5:1-12). It’s because we can understand the gospel without being able to keep up with theological discussions. The Samaritan woman went into her town after talking with Jesus and declared, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” (John 4:29). She didn’t understand everything about him, but she knew what it was like to talk with him, and that gave her understanding that even the religious elite could not grasp.

   The thing I most want to encourage everyone with is that Jesus told us we must be like little children to enter his kingdom. Children often understand relational things very clearly even though they may not have intellectual understanding of what we mean. 

   In our daycare, I am always having fun with the Littles, throwing out phrases that I know are going right over their heads (I’m always hoping one of them will come back someday and tell me they “got it” about something I had said).  However, the goofy way I’m acting and talking when I say these things has the kids “getting” me in a relational way even though they think it is hilarious that I’M the one who doesn’t know what he’s talking about! 

   My point is simply to encourage everyone that you can know Jesus without knowing everything about him. I don’t come to his word every day because I know everything, but because I know him, and I want to find out what he will teach me each day if I show up with my listening ears on. I am NEVER disappointed and ALWAYS have so much to share with others because of God’s gifts of grace each morning. 

   When Jesus told Satan that man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God, he was not only beginning to destroy the devil’s work but was identifying a chief characteristic of his followers. We would be those who would let the word of Christ dwell in us richly so we can live by every word that comes from the mouth of God. We would come to know Jesus Christ in our moment of salvation in a way that would make us want to know him better every day than we have ever known him before.

   And I hope this helps you with that very thing even as God has helped me this morning.

© 2024 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com 

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)