"Crossword Puzzles"

“Crossword Puzzles”

 

One of my favorite pastimes is doing crossword puzzles. It’s usually the first place I turn in a newspaper or an airline magazine while on a flight. Apparently my family knows about this hobby as Karen over the years has given me two crossword dictionaries (which don’t always provide answers to some of the more outrageous clues given) and Dave and Jenna sent me a book of 250 Chicago Tribune Sunday Puzzles as a Christmas gift this past year. Working these grids can be a mixture of pleasure (when I complete one) and frustration (when I can’t get those last two words and the dictionaries impart no help). But I don’t plan to quit anytime soon, especially since I have about 100 to go in the Trib Omnibus!

In a puzzle the answers to the across clues frequently lead to solving the mysteries of the down ones (and vice-versa). And many have an overall theme which provides additional help. Sometimes, however, the hints can be misleading. A noted Bible teacher told of a clue “Christian” to which the answer sought was “Gentile.” Time for a cram course in theology!

I see a parallel here with understanding God’s Word. The Scriptures unfold one unified theme, God’s grace as shown in His plan of redemption through Jesus Christ. The Old Testament points forward towards its fulfillment, while the New Testament tells of its completion and availability to each of us. And just as the crossword clues lead to direct and indirect answers various passages bring clarity to some of the more difficult ones. The end result is “…(God’s) divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him….” (2 Peter 1:3).

In the benediction to his great treatise on God’s grace and redemption The Apostle Paul writes, “Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the mystery hidden from long ages past, but now revealed and made known….” (Romans 16:25-26). The theme and clues have been provided—will we let God complete the crossword of our lives?

 

Blessings!

Jim McMillan