Wednesday, August 31, 2011

End of the Puzzle, Beginning of the Mystery

In his book, What the Dog Saw, Malcom Gladwell cites Gregory Treverton as one who’s made a distinction between puzzles and mysteries.

Puzzles are solved with information. Mysteries require judgment, assessment of uncertainties and penetrating questions that un-layer the puzzle.

A mystery will not be solved by puzzle solvers.

I’ve found in the church that we have a lot of puzzle solvers. People who believe we just need more information. And then if we plug that information in, it will bring the right result. This result is the end/finish/goal. My experience is that "the result" is seldom the end. It’s usually the beginning... the mystery.

God's wisdom is something mysterious that goes deep into the interior of his purposes.

Puzzles need to be solved. There's nothing wrong with that. But, maybe you're in a mystery.




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2 comments:

Kerry Miller said...

Nice to have you back! :D

Jonathan Foster said...

thank you!