ODJ: seeing clearly
August 29, 2011
Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity (v.12).
READ: 1 Corinthians 13
Mom, turn the mirror so I can see better.” Riding behind me in the car, my son asked me to set the rearview mirror so he could see himself in it. When my adjustments did not allow him a full view of himself, he asked me to try again. After several attempts, I explained that the mirror was designed for my use as the driver (and not for his as the passenger). Satisfied that I had tried, he sat contentedly while looking out the window. As I turned my attention back to the road, I reflected on our exchange.
In life, we want to be able to see our situations in the same way that God does. He allows us to “have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16) and to adjust our view to see life based on His heart. But we aren’t content simply to know His attitude. We want His omniscience—to be all-knowing as He is. Just as a rearview mirror isn’t for the passenger’s use, we weren’t made to know everything. After all, we’re not the driver.
While we live on earth, our view will always be limited. It’s part of our fallen nature. Eve’s desire for knowledge brought her—and all of humanity—into darkness, not the light of revelation (Genesis 3:5-7). So why does the apostle Paul place a reminder about our limited vision at the end of his exhortation on the true nature of love in 1 Corinthians 13? (v.12). He reminds us that in the most stringent limitations of human frailty—a humanity on which God has bestowed precious gifts (2 Corinthians 4:7)—love takes us beyond our base responses rooted in self-preservation.
It helps us see clearly the true security we have in Jesus. —Regina Franklin
In what situation have you been trying to see things from the driver’s seat instead of the passenger’s perspective? How does God’s love keep you at peace?
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