By David ReayWednesday 21 Sep 2022LifeWords DevotionalsDevotionsReading Time: 2 minutes
When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. 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. (NLT)
It is rather tiresome to have others expect us to have firm opinions on every issue that captures the headlines. We might feel obliged to have such views because if we don’t have them, we may be accused of being wishy washy or shallow.
But we need not have made up our minds on everything. We may well have some views, some insights, but we have to admit they are tentative, and they could change. Paul reminds us that becoming mature and adult still leaves room for uncertainty and mystery. None of us knows everything.
Those who follow Jesus disagree on a number of things. What is absolutely plain and simple to some is more like a puzzling reflection in a mirror to others. True followers of Jesus will certainly have a set of core beliefs, and embrace certain truths with determination. But even our understanding of what is core and what is peripheral varies from person to person.
And simply insisting we go back to the Bible may not always help. What if different believers in Jesus’ view bits of the Bible differently? What is “biblical” to some, might be merely cultural to others. So, we need a fair dose of humility and dialogue because none of us sees with perfect clarity, and we need the insights of one another.
There are times when people like me go back to what seems to be one irreducible truth: God loves me; Jesus proves it. If that much is clear, I can live with what remains unclear.
Blessings,
David