Meaning: “conveying a significance that is not directly expressed . . .”
Gentle Reader, challenge #4 from Blog #146 states: Meaning can be hard to discern, multi-layered, obscure and complex.
And, indeed, meaning-seeking can be a complex exercise involving skill and perseverance in evaluating subject matter and compiling frequently arcane derivatives. This conundrum of “meaning” has many implications, popping up frequently and causing real discomfort among people.
Consider this common quandary concerning conversation about Jesus.
People have said to me with angst, “To have meaning, that is to have a meaningful conversation about Jesus, for example, do I have to have, or do others have to have, all the answers?”
Gentle Reader, I sympathize with these burdened people. They need answers so they can make right judgments. I know, I ask myself that one all the time.
And after 60 some-odd years of life, I do indeed have an answer for them (and me) and the answer is no—having all the answers is not necessary!
Not that that understanding was easy to acquire, it wasn’t. But at this time in life, after all my ponderings of Scripture, I can comfortably assure these petitioners that Scripture says that God is the only one with all the answers (Psalm 139; Romans 33-36, NKJV).
I can also assure them that God has revealed all we need to know in The Bible, and everything in The Bible (I again draw from scripture) is the breathed word of God (Romans 1:20, NKJV).
But remember, Gentle Reader, Challenge # 4 says that meaning can be multi-layered, obscure and complex, as I have said before, and the Bible is not exhaustive on all subjects, not even on the subject of Jesus as we see in John 21:24,25, NKJV.
Yet, rest assured, God knows meaning can be multi-layered, complex and obscure, and He therefore connects with us endlessly and in a variety of ways, on any subject of concern, until we secure the meaning we need.
Take for instance how God routinely reveals what we need to know through the practice of prayer.
He also speaks to us through the inner-mind counsel of Jesus (Romans 11:36, NKJV) through Holy Spirit; through the counsel of other believing Christians (Romans 12:16, NKJV); in dreams (Matthew 1:20; NKJV) and visions (Luke 1:22); through the urgings, promptings and revelations of the person of Holy Spirit (Romans 8:26-27, NKJV); and in study and meditation on the Word (Mark 12:29-31, NKJV).
In short, when we think about and remember God (a meaningful thing of the first order itself), He orchestrates, in a plentitude of ways, a meeting of the mind between Himself and us through the power of Holy Spirit who proceeds from Him (John 15:26, NKJV).
And He gives us wisdom for living and understanding for healing, all over time. And so much more.
Complex or not, that’s how it happens.
To be continued . . .
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