When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 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 13:11-12
“It is a surprising image when the age of a child is com pared with the partial nature of knowledge, and the maturity of adulthood with the perfection of love (1 Cor. 13:11). Knowledge without love is childish, a childish approach, a childish attempt … the pride of knowledge without love is like the boasting of youth, which only makes the mature person smile Paul says that love is the stuff of mature insight, of true knowledge, of age. That clearly distinguishes this love from all fanaticism, from all weakness and sentimentality-love means truth before God. It means perfect knowledge before God.
And yet a second image: ‘For now we see in a mirror…’ (1 Cor. 13:12). God’s thoughts are found in the world only as if caught in a mirror. We see them only in mirror writing, and the mirror writing of God is hard to read. Indeed, it reads that large is small and small is large, that right is wrong and wrong is right, that hopelessness is promise and the hopeful expect judgment. Indeed, it reads that the cross means victory and death means life. We read the mirror writing of God in Jesus Christ, in his living and speaking and dying.”
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, I Want to Live These Days with You (devotion for October 27, devotions compiled from his writings)
People talk about 1 Corinthians 13 as being a lovely chapter about love. But in the NIV, only seven of the 13 verses use the word love. Yes, the old KJV says “charity” and love is never mentioned. I know.
I was disingenuous, in two verses not containing the word “love”, they have “it”, meaning love, so that love is not so often said. Still, the verses above are two verses that might have a notion of love in them, but not really.
I wrote about Psalm 51 in the Bible study this morning and said that if our sins do not make us feel like our bones are crushed by them, we have no idea about what a price those sins cost when they were washed away. Maybe our faith is not genuine, and they are not washed away. I wonder when I see so many people who are lukewarm, when I go to a church leader meeting and I am told to not mention faith because this is a business meeting, when I see myself making the same mistake that I made last Sunday – meaning yesterday, not a week ago.
To be perfectly honest, I rarely look in the mirror. With my thyroid dead, killed by a radioactive iodine capsule over fifteen years ago – before my thyroid that was out of control killed me – I can get away with shaving twice each week. If I do not go to the doctor, pharmacist, or grocery store, once each week, I will shave. I have a toothbrush that flashes a red light if I have it positioned wrong – gum protection – and I have learned that I can walk away from the mirror. I can see that stupid light with my peripheral vision.
When I look in the mirror, I see imperfections. I am a human being. I am getting older. But when I was young, I never saw a handsome young man. I was an army officer. I was a captain, but I never saw myself as large and in charge, although at one time, I had over 200 employees working for me and contracts under my control in the millions of dollars.
I knew that I could manage. I knew that I would look out for my employees and help them develop if I was ever the “real” boss, and as a fake boss, I helped many get promotions, even when the promotion meant I would not be their supervisor anymore. I was a manager and supervisor who cared, and I never got a pay increase to supervisor level (nor any supervisory bonuses that went to my boss instead of me) because, I think, that having a boss that cared about the people beneath him scared the big bosses.
But, I occasionally see the scars that I have received over the years when trying to help others. And each time I do, I wonder why there are so few.
I had a dream a few years ago. I was in Heaven, but I did not have a lot of Joy. Jesus smiled at me, and He said to follow Him. I walked into a conference room, and it was filled with people that I did not recognize. They smiled as I entered, and I returned their smile.
Then Jesus said, “In small ways and some large ways, these people are here because of your little acts of kindness.”
That dream just spurred me on to write more, to do more, to teach more, and to love more.
Whether you see humbly in a mirror or arrogantly into the mirror, we will see clearly in the next life. Do not worry what the face looks like now. Keep helping people and loving people, and let the face in the mirror reflect that in the next life.
Soli Deo Gloria. Only to God be the Glory.
Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley 
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