On this day in 1887, Sherlock Holmes first appeared in print.

Sherlock Holmes, a fictional English detective, achieved fame through several novels by Arthur Conan Doyle. In each story Holmes and associates would try to solve an unsolved crime. Eventually, using his incredible observational and deductive skills, Holmes would solve the mystery.

Do you enjoy mysteries? Many books and popular TV shows feature crime-solving detectives, investigators, police officers, district attorneys, and citizens. It’s fun to follow the clues and identify the villains.

But some mysteries can’t be solved by mere human beings. Today’s Scripture, for example, explains “the great mystery of our faith”—the story of God becoming a human being. For 2000 years, people have been trying to answer this one: How could Jesus be fully God and fully human? What does it mean to be the “God-man”? It’s a mystery, and it’s unsolvable because God is way beyond our ability to think and figure out.

Some people think they have to understand something in order to believe in it. So they only accept what they can touch, taste, see, hear, and feel—like food, snow, toys, friends, school buildings, and homework. Because they can’t see God, and certainly can’t understand everything about him, they find it difficult to believe in him at all.

That’s where faith comes in.

Jesus lived on earth, died, and rose from the dead. That’s history. But it’s also “mystery” because the Bible says he was sinless and lives now in Heaven and in us through the Holy Spirit.

Thank God for this “great mystery of our faith.” Believe!

Without question, this is the great mystery of our faith: Christ appeared in the flesh and was shown to be righteous by the Spirit. He was seen by angels and was announced to the nations. He was believed on in the world and was taken up into heaven (1 Timothy 3:16).

To Do

Talk to your minister and ask about the great “mysteries” of the Christian faith.

Also on this day

This is World AIDS Day.

It’s also Eat a Red Apple Day.

1955—Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her seat in the front section of a bus.

From Betsy Schmitt and Dave Veerman, 365 Trivia Twist Devotions: An Almanac of Fun Facts and Spiritual Truth for Every Day of the Year (Cincinnati: Standard, 2005). Scripture quotations are from the New Living Translation unless otherwise noted.