Knowing As I Am Known

"Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely." 1 Corinthians 13:12

I don't know very much.

As a kid and as an adult, I've always been a very curious person.  The mysteries of life perplex me, and the behavior of people, spiritual things that I can't see--these perplex me, too.  I wanted and still want to know and understand more.  Over the years, I've learned that my curiosity can sometimes be perceived as a personal afront or threat, though it is never intended as anything more than an attempt to understand.

My mother and daddy always got it.  They would patiently explain what they knew and understood of life's mysteries when I asked incessantly, and would tell me when they were not quite sure about something, too.  My dad once spent the greater part of a day's drive on the way from Texas to Montana explaining every detail in answer to my question, "How do bees make honey?"

But, recently this verse has taken on a much deeper meaning for me.  Not only will we know the answers to life's mysteries, but one day we will know and understand God, each other, and the depth of His love for us in all of its fullness and truth.  It will be like when my mom was in her eighties and had cataract surgery on her eyes.  She was SO EXCITED to see each new thing!  Things she thought she had seen well before, now looked completely different to her.  They were now clear and unclouded, and she remarked often about how wonderful it was to see with such perfection and clarity--as never before.

We often think that we see clearly, but we put such limits on our loving Heavenly Father in our humanness that we don't really see Him as He is at all.  He speaks to us in ways, through the Spirit, that we often fail to even attempt to trust, accept, or want to understand.

I believe that one day we will know and understand the real intentions and hidden thoughts of others without a word being spoken.  All of those misconceptions we have about what others think of us, all of those insecurities will be gone.  There will be a purity of understanding, of truth because of the deep, abiding love of Jesus Christ that permeates every aspect of the new place that He has prepared for us--for those who call Him, Father.

Do you call Him, Father?

The older I get, the more I realize how little I really know, but there is something very important that I do know.  I know it to be true more than anything else in all the world.  I know that Jesus loves me. I know that Jesus loves you, and I know that God uses the lives we live beyond the days we live them.  I know this because the Holy Bible tells me so.  And, I know this because I have experienced it firsthand.

Do you know this?  Do you know Him?  Do you know the Father?

Louisa M. R. Stead penned the words to the beloved hymn, 'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus, in 1882, and the words are no less meaningful today.

’Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just to take Him at His Word;
Just to rest upon His promise,
And to know, “Thus saith the Lord!”

Refrain:

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!
How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er;
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
Oh, for grace to trust Him more!

Oh, how sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just to trust His cleansing blood;
And in simple faith to plunge me
’Neath the healing, cleansing flood!

Yes, ’tis sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just from sin and self to cease;
Just from Jesus simply taking
Life and rest, and joy and peace.

I’m so glad I learned to trust Thee,
Precious Jesus, Savior, Friend;
And I know that Thou art with me,
Wilt be with me to the end.

May you see Him, may you recognize Him in new and different places today.  May you reach for Him, for He is not far from any one of us (Acts 17:27).  May you know the deep secrets that God reveals to those who have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:15-16).

And, may you have the best day you've ever had in your life.

Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus