1 Corinthians 13:9-10 “For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.”
Theologian Frederick Buechner writes how Christianity is too good not to be true. But when I accepted Jesus as Savior I had no idea how good or how true.
Growing up in the church, one of my favorite hymns was “Love Lifted Me.” I remember belting out the chorus with gusto—When nothing else could help, love lifted me! The problem was I hadn’t actually tried anything else and had no idea I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore. My understanding of the good news reached about as far as escaping hell and getting a ticket to heaven. Years later, while in grad school at the University of Colorado, I took a deeper look inside myself. That’s when I realized how much I needed that ticket. I became certain nothing else could help because I’d tried a few of those “nothings.” The gospel proclaims not just good news, but the best news ever.
And it’s not fake news. It’s true! I remember flying back to the States in 1977 after my husband and I studied at L’Abri in Switzerland. The apologetics taught by Francis Schaeffer gave us deeper understanding of how faith fits in the world. I remarked to Chip, “I always knew Christianity was true, but not this true!” As Schaeffer would often say, Christianity is true truth.
I’m still learning how good and how true.
It’s too good not to be true to realize the little girl who didn’t understand how she needed to be lifted by love would someday be rescued by the Master of the Sea. It’s too good not to be true that love as described in 1 Corinthians 13 will in the end prevail. Patience, kindness, humility and forgiveness will triumph over selfishness, cruelty, pride and hatred. It’s too good not to be true that our longing to be fully known and fully loved lies ahead. That all our partial understanding and unfulfilled prophesies will find completeness.
Don’t be discouraged because you don’t yet see or understand how things so good could really be true. Take God at his Word. Keep pressing in and leave childish ways of thinking behind.