The Rest of the Story

 "The word which He sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ (He is Lord of all) -- you yourselves know the thing which took place throughout all Judea, starting from Galilee, after the baptism which John proclaimed.  You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.  We are witnesses of all the things He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put Him to death by hanging Him on a cross.  God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He become visible, not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that is, to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead."  (Acts 10:36-41 NASB)

I had this great idea to look at how Peter kept saying, "you know" as he speaks to the Gentiles in Cornelius' house.  But he doesn't; which really puts a kink in wanting to discuss how much the assembled Gentiles knew of Jesus and His ministry.  Actually what he says boils down to, "you know about the public ministry of Jesus, but not even Paul Harvey has the rest of the story, just us."

Peter's point is made beginning with what they already know, then taking them to Who Jesus really turned out to be.  The crucifixion was public knowledge, but the resurrection was not.  By adding the resurrection to what they already knew Peter transformed a story of a good person into the story of the Christ.  With some understanding of Judaism, perhaps the Scriptures, the story of the Jewish Messiah would be one with which they were somewhat familiar.

Perhaps that is what is needed in the life of a believer, the transformation of what we know about God.  It's one thing to know the stories.  I love the stories in the Bible.  But who are the stories about?  They are about my Master, not David, Peter, Paul, or the Jews.  Until the words of the Bible are transformed for me into the story of the Messiah, the Christ, I will not have the "rest of the story" and I will be continually missing something. 

I feel like I'm missing something about a lot of things.  I don't understand politics, I don't get the complexities of the economy.  I don't like studying these things, because they never seem to work like people describe.  I had a real estate guy tell me back in 2004 that the housing market in California would never go down.  I can only assume he has a different job now.  I watched the housing market in Fort Worth fight to experience the same sort of boom they had in other parts of the country, only to have it stabilize about where it had been for years.  Go figure.  I get the impression there is a lot that goes on that I am completely in the dark about.  And for most of it, I'm okay with that.

The hand of my Master does not sleep or tire.  He does not take a break from His care for this world, and His people in it.  Scripture tells me that He works through people and that He does extraordinary things.  But as I read Scripture, I also get the impression that I'm missing something.  Things in it don't seem to connect, yet my Master puts them together or says them both, or does them both.  There is a lot left to the "story" that I don't know.  So, what do I do?

I accept what I do know, and leave the rest to my Master.  After all, He is Master, who better to leave it with?  I suppose that is really the point of my Master.  The rest of His story remains His; His to reveal, or His to conceal.  So, I have lots to think about without concerning myself with what I don't know.  I know the One who does know.  That is enough.  As He reveals more, I will soak it up.  What He conceals I will do without.  There, the secret to life.  Well, that and where to find great pizza, those two things are the secret to life.