Orange Moon Cafe “Face To Face, Or… Our Unknowing"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…

(Friends, you get a double title today, because I couldn't decide on one or the other!  :):)    Glen)

"Face To Face,

or…

Our Unknowing"

      If God allows us to look back on the past from our Heavenly eternity, we will realize how relatively little we knew about Him and about all things during our earthly lives.  We  "see through a glass darkly" confessed the Apostle Paul, who also exulted, "but then face to face" (I Corinthians 13:12).  Certainly Paul referred to the direct and glorious view of the Lord Jesus Christ to come.  However, "face to face" will also involve our awareness of truth and reality regarding ourselves, others, and all things in our existence.  "In Thy light shall we see light" declared the Psalmist of our current vision, but even more of our future perceptions and understanding (Psalm 36:9).

   We see nothing perfectly or completely in this lifetime.  Certainly we can know and understand enough to effectively function in many matters.  Such limited awareness has led the human race to accomplish wondrous things, both corporately and personally.  However, we know "nothing yet as we ought to know" (I Corinthians 8:2).  Consider the simplest object presently in your field of vision.  I look upon a coaster that rests on a table nearby.  The coaster is round, about 4 inches in diameter, and sturdy enough to securely bear my cup of tea.  However, millions upon millions of atomic and subatomic particles form and maintain the coaster's existence.  I see nothing of that, but the case could easily be made that the outward structure and appearance of the object pales in comparison to its unseen physical nature.  The same is true regarding the object you presently behold.  Again, an untold measure of physical wonder forms and sustains even the simplest of things.

   If we shift our attention to the unseen glory of God's infinite being, heart and mind, the contemplation drives us to our knees in mystified awe.  Even a cursory reading of the Bible unveils a Being so inexpressibly glorious that that knowing Him seems impossible.  We can do so, but let us acknowledge the truth that the miraculous must occur for finite beings to genuinely relate to the Infinite.  The Spirit of God must enable us, which He does in all who trust the Lord Jesus.  "God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba Father" (Galatians 4:6).  Wondrously, through the Spirit of Christ, we can know the infinite One who "dwells in the light which no man can approach unto, which no man hath seen, nor can see" (I Timothy 6:16).  However, we acknowledge the relatively minuscule measure of our present awareness and understanding 

   Gather the cumulative knowledge of human history gleaned unto the present hour.  It could comfortably rest on the head of a pin in comparison to the vastness of God and His creation.  We know so very little, and while we give thanks for that which we do understand, we do well to humble ourselves in the acknowledgement of the preponderance of our unknowing.  This refers us back to our original premise, namely, that our present perspective pales in comparison to what can be known, and one day, will be known - face to face.  Nothing should more thrill us, especially when we consider the greatest prospect of eternity, that we shall forever…

 "Know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge."

 (Ephesians 3:19)

Weekly Memory Verse

      "And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love toward another, and toward all." 

(I Thessalonians 3:12)

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