NOW WE SEE THROUGH A MIRROR DIMLY

10/13/14

12 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. I Cor. 13

We are told in the verse above that we see through a mirror dimly now in this life. But the time will come when we will see 'face to face' and the image will become crystal clear.

God knows us fully. He sees us clearly in the spiritual mirror that is cast. We don't see ourselves yet how He sees us. We oftentimes see our failures and shortcomings. At times we live in fear and we are beset with worries. Our Father sees us through the eyes of His Son. The time will come when we will see face to face though. We will look through the shimmering eternal mirror and see Jesus reflected in our face.

2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. I John 3:2

We will be "like Him" because we are being conformed into His image daily as we face various trials and temptations. The genuineness of our faith will be tested through all of these trials and then we will offer up our praises unto Him because it will all have been worth it. And then we will see that we will be "like Him." 1 Peter 1:7

We were created in the "likeness" of God and the likeness doesn't mean our external appearance of course but because we are spirits. To then become like Him in every way means that those attributes that the Father has and is, are becoming our character. We then are becoming more gentle and kind through this process. Through enduring in all types of trials and tribulations, our character takes on endurance and long-suffering. It takes time for the fruit to manifest, but when it does, it lasts and it has its rewards.

When we were young, we thought like a child and we acted like a child. But when we become a man, we put away childish things. As we mature spiritually in Christ, then our nature doesn't want to partake in those things that it did in its former life. Now those things that are eternal, that are ever-lasting, become our focus. Now faith, hope and love abide, but the greatest of these is love.

Some of us spend a good amount of time gazing into the mirror to see what we look like. We see the image of our outward appearance that is reflected in front of us. So many of us get caught up in our outward appearance, but as we know, our outward frame will change with every day, never will we regain our youthful appearance that we once had.

And yet so many of us are concerned with how others see us. We gaze into our mirrors and walk away thinking that we have 'seen ourselves' but have we? We've but gazed into the earthly mirrors that we have.

Our mirrors are like a kaleidoscope. They have smaller mirrors and pieces of colored glass or paper, and those reflections produce changing patterns that are visible just through an eyehole. We don't get the entire reflection here on earth. We just get fragments. We get 'pieces' of the entire image. We're just looking through a small eyehole, as it were. The expanse of our vision prevents us from seeing dimensionally as we could.

Our earthly mirrors are made up up the materials of this earth. They offer us a reflection, but they pale in comparison to the crystal image, the heavenly image that will be held up in front of us, when the time comes. Then with all our reflected faces, we will gaze into the eternal light and that light will show us our true image.

Stephen Hanson