When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1 Cor 13:11-13)We get the difference between childish thinking and mature. And many of us can quote the "see in a mirror dimly" text. But do we think about it?
Paul is writing about love ... biblical love (as opposed to today's version). This is a rare and powerful love, and it is a chosen love rather than merely felt. And it is ... the best (1 Cor 12:31). We currently live with the imperfect (1 Cor 13:9-10), but the perfect will come. We "see in a mirror dimly." It's true. We don't really understand a lot of things. We don't know why God does what He does. We don't understand our universe or ourselves. We see in a mirror dimly. So why should we expect more?
It's okay to ask. It's okay to wonder. We will never know everything, and that's okay. But perhaps we should pay attention to more important things. "But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love" (1 Cor 13:13). Focus there.
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This seems to be one of those things we can know to be true and must adjust for inability to correct this side of heaven.
This is on a sign in front of a church near us this week: “Love is not Feb 14. It is John 3:16.” Cute, huh? And so true (along with other Bible verses, of course). Not the sappy, self-indulgent love of Valentine’s Day that the world chases but the greatest gift of God to us and of us to others.
I think that what started as YHWH giving us a glimpse of His love and of what is to come, has turned into people being satisfied with that glimpse and ignoring the reality beyond it. It's like standing at the top of Loveland pass and focusing on a old black and white postcard instead of the beauty of the reality.
In so many areas we are satisfied with inferior counterfeits, when the real thing is readily available.
C.S. Lewis described us as children playing with mud in the gutter when we could be playing in the sand at the beach.
I recall that as well.
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