1 Corinthians 13:12 – For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
Whenever I hear or look at this verse, I think of Alice in Wonderland, in front of her looking glass, i.e. mirror. Peering at it, knowing there is something beyond what she can see. Another world that awaits her…
Don’t you feel like that sometimes? Like, there has got to be more than this? Or that you have some understanding of God and what He’s doing and who He really is, but you want more clarity? Or profound questions that, in your mind, are still without answers?
Like looking in a mirror, a looking glass. At the time when Paul wrote this verse, mirrors weren’t what they are today. They were crafted out of dark metals that reflected enough light to give a dim reflective image. Which explains why some versions state the verse as, “seeing through a glass, darkly”. An image was seen, but not clearly. It left a person wanting more.
And what else is true of mirrors? They give us a backwards picture of reality. The reflection is the opposite of what is actually true. A skewed version of reality.
But what makes us able to see anything at all in a mirror? Light. The reflection of light is what causes us to be able to see what we do. Though the image is imperfect, the fact that we are able to see anything at all is due to the light.
Hmmmmmmm…..good analogy, Paul! While we are here on earth, we, like Alice, are staring into the looking glass, aware that there’s another side to this mirror, but only being able to see the reflection from this side. We get glimpses of Jesus and of eternity, but we long to know it in all of it’s reality. We want to understand fully. We want to experience all of it. All of Him.
Our perspective from this side of heaven is often backwards and skewed because we can’t see the whole picture. We operate from what we CAN see, which is often a distorted version of what the unseen reality is.
One day we will get to walk through this mirror and experience “wonderland”….complete understanding, full experience and ultimate vision of everything that God is and what He does. But until then, Jesus has given us His light to reflect what He wants us to know right now. The thing that won’t change or diminish no matter what side of the looking glass we are on. His love. In the same passage in 1 Corinthians 13, it tells us that “love never ends” – it thrives on both sides of the mirror.
One day we will walk through the glass and into the arms of the One who will welcome us into the reality we have been longing for all our lives. “Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.” And until then, I will rest in the love that will take me there…
