“Mom, turn the mirror so I can see better.” Riding behind me in the car, my son asked me to set the rearview mirror so he could see himself in it. When my adjustments did not allow him a full view of himself, he asked me to try again. After several attempts, I explained that the mirror was designed for my use as the driver (and not for his as the passenger). Satisfied that I had tried, he sat contentedly while looking out the window. As I turned my attention back to the road, I reflected on our exchange.
In life, we want to be able to see our situations in the same way that God does. He allows us to “have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16) and to adjust our view to see life based on His heart. But we aren’t content simply to know His attitude. We want His omniscience— to be all-knowing as He is. Just as a rearview mirror isn’t for the passenger’s use, we weren’t made to know everything. After all, we’re not the driver.
While we live on earth, our view will always be limited. It’s part of our fallen nature. Eve’s desire for knowledge brought her—and all of humanity—into darkness, not the light of revelation (Genesis 3:5-7). So why does the apostle Paul place a reminder about our limited vision at the end of his exhortation on the true nature of love in 1 Corinthians 13:1-13? (1 Corinthians 13:12). He reminds us that in the most stringent limitations of human frailty—a humanity on which God has bestowed precious gifts (2 Corinthians 4:7)—love takes us beyond our base responses rooted in self-preservation.
It helps us see clearly the true security we have in Jesus.
NLT 365-day reading plan passage for today: Matthew 21:1-17
More:
Read James 3:13–4:2 to see the connection between selflessness and God’s provision for our future decisions and needs.
Next:
In what situation have you been trying to see things from the driver’s seat instead of the passenger’s perspective? How does God’s love keep you at peace?
sharonmanning on August 29, 2011 at 2:47 am
This is good and speaks to an issue that comes up so often at our Bible study… I would like to use a quote from it:
Just as a rearview mirror isn’t for the passenger’s use, we weren’t made to know everything. After all, we’re not the driver./Regina Franklin
may I?
regina franklin on August 29, 2011 at 12:51 pm
Dear Sharon,
Feel free to use the quotation (with reference to ODJ). Blessings.
winn collier on August 29, 2011 at 12:43 pm
This is a hard word for those of us who want to know everything / see everything / control everything.
regina franklin on August 29, 2011 at 12:52 pm
Thanks, Winn. I think it’s a reminder I need daily.
daisymarygoldr on August 29, 2011 at 5:35 pm
The Bible teaches us to grow and attain the complete knowledge of Jesus Christ. So, we should seek to gain knowledge because—for lack of knowledge people are destroyed. To have complete knowledge means to know God as intimately as He knows us now completely (1 Corinthians 13: 12).
Eve did not want to know God. She wanted to be like God. That is why she got into trouble. The infinite knowledge that is in God is unfathomable. This is exactly what distinguishes creatures from their Creator. And so, whether we are on earth or in heaven, at no point in eternity we can ever become all-knowing. Only God can be God.
This knowledge that God knows-it-all and does all things well makes me feel secure in His love. And as we keep on growing in knowledge, our love will overflow more and more (Philippians 1:9)