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Join me for Core Beliefs Tonight @ 6:30pm
If you're interested in learning more about what we believe and teach at Hays Hills or have questions about a particular doctrine that you'd like answered, I want to invite you to join me tonight at 6:30pm in the Fellowship Hall of Bldg. D for Hays Hills' Core Beliefs.
I'll walk us through the Baptist Faith & Message 2000, the doctrinal statement of the Southern Baptist Convention and our church, and take time to answer whatever questions you may have. I look forward to visiting with you tonight!
For Now We See in a Mirror Dimly
We looked at 1 Corinthians 13 on Sunday and in verse 12 the Apostle Paul wrote, "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."
The word translated "dimly" is a word that is used only once in the NT. The ESV and many English translations use this translation of "dimly" but the Greek word is most commonly used to refer to riddles. More importantly, the word is used in the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament, which was the Bible of Jesus' day and the translation from which Jesus quoted.
In the Septuagint the word is found in Numbers chapter 12 where the Lord speaks to Aaron and Miriam saying:
“Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” -- Numbers 12:6-8
In other words, today we know God in part, but a day is coming when we will converse with God and know God the way Moses did - beholding God face to face.
As I was reading the text on Sunday, I was overtaken by the thought that one day I will know God fully, even as I am fully known by Him now.
One of the paradoxes of our existence is that we have a tremendous longing to be fully known and a tremendous fear to be fully known. We want people to know everything about us: to know what we're feeling, what we're going through, what makes us tick; so that we're not alone, but we're also afraid of what people would think of us if they knew all of our secret thoughts, actions, and insecurities.
If we're really close to a friend or to our spouse, we begin to open up more of ourselves to them. But even those closest to us don't know us fully. That's too vulnerable, too frightening. But God knows us fully. You may think you know me, or your best friend, or your spouse, but God actually does.
And here's the amazing news: one day, when Christ returns, you will know God the way God knows you. You will know Him fully. That's how close we will be to God. What a day that will be! May we look forward to it with hope.
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