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
We can study our Bibles for hours each day and pray nonstop seven days a week, and we will still have a limited understanding. We will still be asked challenging questions about God and the Bible by the kids in our lives, where we will have to answer, "I don't know." The truth is, on this earth, we have limited knowledge. There is so much we do not understand, particularly about our difficulties and struggles here on this earth. One day, however, Scripture teaches that when we spend eternity with Christ in Heaven, we will gain a better understanding and clearer perspective of how God is working in our world right now.
The apostle Paul explained in 1 Corinthians 13 that one day, we will have a greater understanding than we have here on this earth. As he wrote in this letter to the church in Corinth, he said, "Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see things 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" (verse 12). Right now, we can see in part. We know God, and we understand Him in part. Our understanding is limited. We have questions about faith and our life circumstances that we do not understand. One day, however, we will understand fully. We will know God more deeply and understand Him more fully. That is the promise we can claim.
While our understanding about heaven here on earth is "partial and incomplete," one day we will see "with perfect clarity." One day, our questions will be answered, and we will know God fully. Hold fast to this truth today.
One day, what seems dim and unclear to us will be clear, but until then, our call is to trust. What is an area of your life where you are struggling to trust God? Give it to God today. Trust Him with the unknowns. Trust that He is working and He is in control. One day, you will see clearly, but today, trust Him with what you cannot see.
1If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.
4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
8 Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! 9 Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! 10 But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.
11 When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. 12 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.
13 Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.
