See Through A Glass Darkly
"For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." (1 Corinthians 13:12). I've always looked at this description from Paul of seeing through a glass darkly as a comment on our weakness and shortsightedness and overall our lack of righteousness as mortal and fallen men and women. Due to our natural tendencies towards sin and rebellion, we have shrouded ourselves in darkness of our own making and thus are cursed to see only very dimly through this darkened glass, rather than basking and reveling in the full splendor and glory of the light of Christ. But I'm not sure this is the case. The most typical example of looking through a glass darkly is when we wear sunglasses. Most often we wear sunglasses not because we hate or are not worthy of the sunlight, but because it is so bright that it hurts our eyes. God knows us. He knows that at present we cannot abide the fullness of His light and glory unfiltered. In His mercy, He has given us spiritual sunglasses so that we may look to Him through a glass darkly without hurting ourselves or going blind. It is not an indictment against our character or the progress of our spiritual development to embrace the reality that our thoughts are not yet the Lord's thoughts, nor, despite our best efforts and intentions, are our ways the Lord's ways. It is all right that we still need to use sunglasses when looking to the Lord. Like Jack Nicholson's character screams in A Few Good Men, we "can't handle the truth." Not yet. Not completely unfiltered. But as we make our eye single to the glory of God, over time we will be able to transition to clearer and clearer glasses, so that we can receive more and more of God's light and truth, and that light will grow brighter and brighter until the perfect day, when we will no longer see through a glass darkly, but can take off our sunglasses and see the Lord face to face, knowing Him not just in part, but knowing Him as deeply and intimately and as unfiltered as He knows us.
