by Maria Hartman

For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. 1 Corinthians 13:12

Have you ever stopped to think how often we want what is to come later, right now? We have trouble waiting for the best and sometimes we go so far as to try and make it happen when it isn’t possible. But nothing happens apart from God’s timetable.

So we must be content with what He provides for us today; now. For now, we see a reflection of what is there—we see ourselves (this is the purpose of a mirror), but it is only a ‘dim’ picture of what is to be. It is incomplete; it is viewed with eyes that are part of a fallen world. And we don’t see ourselves as Christ sees us; we see either the flaws and weakness or we refuse to see any of them and pretend everything is just fine.

But then…the promise will literally be…it will come. We will see Love face to face. Nothing will be dim or distorted or altered by temporal eyes. Now I know in part. Jesus dwells in me and I in Him, yet as I journey through this life, I am a part of a world where His fullness cannot be realized, His glory cannot be seen. Though my knowing grows and must continue to grow, it will never be all that one day it will eternally be. But then…but later, when I am with Christ, (and when you are with Christ)….when I am joined fully to Love, I will know Him just as right this very moment, He knows me. WOW!

Friends, I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to know Him more NOW so that I will appreciate and desire more of what is to come. ‘For now’ is OK because ‘but then’ is on its way….closer and closer every day. Praise God that He would not only know me and love me as He does, but that because of Jesus, He would allow someone like me to fully know Him.

But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.    1 Corinthians 3: 18 Because Jesus has removed the veil from darkened eyes, we can behold the glory of the Lord AS we are transformed into the SAME image….from glory (now because He is in me) to glory (the fullness of what is to come).

For Today: Do we really truly understand who we are right now in Christ and the process that is going on within us? Do we understand that we are being shaped and molded;    transformed into something of incomprehensible worth? What worth you ask? Into the very image of Jesus Christ Himself, by the Spirit of the Living God! So the next time you look into a mirror, smile as big as you can…..you and I are heading for final victory.