Age and Knowledge

I look back upon my life and realize that I enjoyed the school process, the learning process.  I liked doing projects and reports.  I enjoyed trying to figure out problems and see where it took my mind.  I may not have realized it at the time, but looking back, I really did.  I believed that the more I learned, the more I would know.  I guess I've always seen knowledge as a lifelong journey (funny, I'm writing this in a hotel room so I can spend the next five days learning at a conference)!

I've also always equated the amount of knowledge with age.  The older we are the more we know, right?  I can't say that my equation has always worked.  There have been times when I have taken the knowledge I've acquired "along the way" and have put it to good use.  I'm sure you have as well.  Yet, I admit, there have been other times when I have NOT learned from the knowledge I have gained and continue to make the same poor decisions (especially surrounding my eating habits).

So we come to today.  It's hard to believe we are nearing the end of our study on 1 Corinthians 13.  I believe the verses for today really bring the immensity of what Paul has taught us on love and ensures we don't get "too full of ourselves".  It is these verses that remind me to have humility in knowledge.  Paul's teachings to the Corinthians on the capacity of love comes to these two verses.  He helps them (and us) to realize that in our current state, we may try to have the capacity to understand and act in a loving way.  Yet, our capacity to understand is not nearly what we might believe it is.

Here, Paul helps us to "put up a mirror" and reflect on what we truly know, what we truly understand, and how we truly live our lives.  By reading these verses, I have come to realize that what I might believe and act as a definition of love is NOWHERE NEAR the capacity of what I will see, learn and know when I see Jesus face to face.  So many times I think I "get it".  What this helps me to see is that I need to have humility in my learning.  I won't "get it" until I get into heaven. 

In heaven, our eyes will be opened, our mouths will truly speak, and our hearts will be filled with the enormous gift of love that God has bestowed on us.  It is only then that we will truly have the knowledge and that we will truly understand.  Yes, we might learn more things and understand more "earthly" things as we grow older - but the TRUE understanding is coming only when we leave this earth.  How glorious that day will be when we meet our maker face to face!!

Dearest God, help us to be reminded that as time passes, the knowledge that we acquire is only that of this earthly state.  It won't be until we see you face to face that we will truly understand all that you have given to us - truly understand the richness of your love.  What a day that will be!