Now In Part

I see in a mirror dimly.

I must remind myself of this fact every time I open my mouth to speak or my browser to blog. It goes without saying that when I say something, I say it because I believe it is right. I have never known of a person who boldly proclaimed or even quietly accepted something he or she did not believe to be true. But yet, the things we believe are not always true. Why?

Because we see in a mirror dimly.

Most people quote 1 Corinthians 13:1-8 almost daily, but rarely do people acknowledge the end of the chapter, in which Paul stops talking about love and starts talking about knowledge. More specifically, Paul talks about how fleeting and insignificant knowledge really is. What do we really know? What do I really know? We seek understanding from the wrong side of a two way mirror, and we see in it dimly. Our omniscient Father gave us the gift of limited understanding, and even things we think we really know change sometimes. One can look to math, science, or history to see how quickly knowledge passes away.

So, if knowledge passes away, we must cling to what does not. Seems easy enough, right? But yet I personally struggle to do so. Thankfully, Paul addresses this struggle in Ephesians 2:18-22. We as believers are to cling to each other, and more importantly, cling to Christ. Our faith is one entity; one structure held together with Christ as the cornerstone.

Because we see in a mirror dimly, sometimes our perception is skewed. Sometimes we do not see things the same way. In some cases, one side is wrong and the other side is right. But in most cases, no one can say whether either side is right. Because we see in a mirror dimly. Because of this, we cannot trust in what we see, but solely in what we cannot see: Christ, the perfect cornerstone of our faith. Although our perception tries to tear us apart, we cannot be shaken because of our resolute foundation in Jesus Christ.

"For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known." --1 Corinthians 13:12