Seeing Indistinctly
“At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12)
We can only know if we allow ourselves to be known. God asks us to open up to Him in such a personal way that for the great majority of us this is extremely uncomfortable. There is something real near, we can feel it and it is only seen indistinctly. The Spirit is reaching out and the more we allow it into us, the more we seem to have capacity within. We are the partial people, that continue to battle for openness to God that will not leave us alone, in a world that celebrates being closed and strong. So much around us has taught to guard, so God is always like a child saying “come out I want to play.”
A friend of mine’s father killed her mother (his wife) and himself recently. He took a gun to her head and his pulling the trigger. What could I do but hold her and let her know I was there. She did not need spiritual philosophy but relationship; a relationship built on a real person that was not afraid in the dark cold night to hug and hold. There were no answers, just allowing openness to know and be known. That is why the Christian God is personal, because everything else fails in comparison for the human. We are material, which is where God meets His people. What He made us of He became, what we needed He gave.
Over 300,000 people died and millions displaced in Southeast Asia from a wave. An adjustment in the earths crust changed everything in the region. Saint and sinner were washed away together, with no discrimination given by the wave to the baby in the crib. How can a Christian have faith after everyone and everything they have known has been washed away? The answer is you can not, if there is faith, it has to come from and depend on what is outside and above fragile humanity easily be compromised by water. One reason Christians can claim to see is because they have learned the failure of there own eyes. We see indistinctly and have had to learn to allow ourselves to be known by and rely on the only One that can.
“At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12)
We can only know if we allow ourselves to be known. God asks us to open up to Him in such a personal way that for the great majority of us this is extremely uncomfortable. There is something real near, we can feel it and it is only seen indistinctly. The Spirit is reaching out and the more we allow it into us, the more we seem to have capacity within. We are the partial people, that continue to battle for openness to God that will not leave us alone, in a world that celebrates being closed and strong. So much around us has taught to guard, so God is always like a child saying “come out I want to play.”
A friend of mine’s father killed her mother (his wife) and himself recently. He took a gun to her head and his pulling the trigger. What could I do but hold her and let her know I was there. She did not need spiritual philosophy but relationship; a relationship built on a real person that was not afraid in the dark cold night to hug and hold. There were no answers, just allowing openness to know and be known. That is why the Christian God is personal, because everything else fails in comparison for the human. We are material, which is where God meets His people. What He made us of He became, what we needed He gave.
Over 300,000 people died and millions displaced in Southeast Asia from a wave. An adjustment in the earths crust changed everything in the region. Saint and sinner were washed away together, with no discrimination given by the wave to the baby in the crib. How can a Christian have faith after everyone and everything they have known has been washed away? The answer is you can not, if there is faith, it has to come from and depend on what is outside and above fragile humanity easily be compromised by water. One reason Christians can claim to see is because they have learned the failure of there own eyes. We see indistinctly and have had to learn to allow ourselves to be known by and rely on the only One that can.
posted by Kenneth W. Michael | 10:59 AM
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