Through a Glass (a little less darkly?)
In this passage, Paul urges us to anchor ourselves in spirit and live our lives on Christ’s behalf, serving a ministry of reconciliation. I’m having a hard time writing this devotional! What does it mean to live in Christ? To be an ambassador for reconciliation? Life is thorny and tangled; such a thing so simple in theory rarely works out in reality (for me at least). Only “through a glass, darkly” do I glimpse Paul’s meaning.
“All things are become new […] and all things are of God.” Bridging verses 17 and 18 are these lines. All things are of God, reconciliation allows their true nature.
“Even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.” (Psalm 139:12) This is how I understand Christ sees shame, sin, suffering - reconciling us to God. They fall away under his gaze, leaving God who was, is, will be.
Another quote, not biblical. “Anything will give up its secrets if you love it enough.” (George Washington Carver - agricultural scientist on all things from peanuts to people!)
So these are what I try to hang onto here, and have faith that it is something. Maybe one day the darkness occluding the glass will fade and we will find it was our vision that was flawed all along.
May we see the world as Christ does. With wisdom and great compassion, knowing that his love is transformative and real in the truest sense of the word.
Lord, let me see with your eyes. Where there is love and where there is pain, let me see You always. You are all. Let us see the world with your loving gaze and in doing so bring light to darkness. Amen.
Zabrina Ng