“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.“
1 Corinthians 13:12

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AUGUST 1, 2024

A Christian writer named Robert K. Johnson told a (fictional) story about a person who arrived in heaven, only to find himself in a vestibule with two doors. One door was marked “Heaven” and the other marked “Lecture about Heaven.” To his surprise, people were flocking to the door offering discussions about heaven, rather than the door leading to heaven itself.

I quoted Johnson’s story in my own book All Shall Be Well to demonstrate how often we feel uncomfortable with God being near and knowable; how frequently we forget that God is here. I wrote:

“Even back in the Garden, Adam and Eve fell into trouble when they adopted the habit of talking about God rather than speaking to him. Suddenly, the Gardener began to appear not quite as life-giving and intimate, perhaps not entirely trustworthy. From there, the relationship was all-too-easily broken…Time and again, we slide into this pattern, speculating and debating about God rather than searching for him.

But he is here. Our God is not far off. From the very beginning, Christians have declared that the Creator is not only transcendent but immanent. In his transcendence, God is perfect, whole, other. This means we cannot grasp or tame him, we cannot overpower or domesticate him. Yet God is also immanent: crucially, palpably present. Wherever we go, all we must do is lift our faces, hold out our hands, or take in a breath—and find him here with us.

Can you imagine the trouble we’d be in if God were only one of these? If God was near but not sovereign, our hope would be frail, like second-brew tea or weak coffee. If he were transcendent but not present—well, isn’t that the actual definition of hell? He has promised to meet us, he has promised to be found—if we can open our distracted, weary, frightened eyes and see.” ++

Friends, as the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians, we can see God only dimly, as though through a glass. But He has invited us to look, to search, to find.

Someday, we will see God face to face.

Questions for reflection and discussion:

  • What helps you remember that our transcendent God is right here, as close as our hands and our breath?
  • What do you see of God when you look through the dim glass?
  • What do you look forward to when we see face to face?

++From All Shall Be Well: Awakening to God’s Presence in His Messy, Abundant World by Catherine McNiel (NavPress, 2019)

 

Church Reading Plan: Jeremiah 28; Mark 14