October 17 - I want to know it all!

I'm about to head into a really crazy week.  Lots of writing and reading.  All of it for a grade ... I will wait for someone to judge my work based on their perceptions of what is good and right and it will make me crazy when I disagree.  I talked to my sister tonight about how I needed to relearn what I knew when I was much younger - how to simply play the game without rocking the boat.  But, at some point in my life I quit letting the world dictate what I needed to know.  I began to realize what information I was missing and went after it.  Being back in the academic world reminds me that I don't always get that choice, no matter how hard I try or how much I push.  The secondary part of that reality is that God holds things back from us until we are ready to know or have enough information to fully understand.  I don't really like that either, but I must learn that He is the one in charge.


This post is from last November. 

November 14, 2009 - Full Revelation in the Future

I'm often told that patience isn't one of my virtues. Now, you see, that's just plain funny. When I was in high school, we had these amazing spiritual weekends called Lay Witness Missions. People from the region would gather at a church, witness to the life changing experience that knowing Jesus brought to them and on Saturday evening there would be an altar call of some sort.

For some foolish reason, I recognized my lack of patience and decided to ask God to help me gain more of it. I thought it was a reasonable request. Little did I know that it was the craziest thing I had ever asked for from Him. Over the next 35 years, God has placed more than a few practical examples in my life that have taught me about patience. I failed at most of them, but I have been learning patience since that day that I foolishly asked God to help me.

I love the internet. Talk about immediate wish fulfillment! I have said it before and I'll say it again - knowledge and information are things that I constantly desire. I'm not sure how I existed before the internet. I love being able to have my questions fully answered within moments of asking. I'm incredibly impatient with ignorance and lack of knowledge on my own part. I want to know it all! Yes, I would love to be jacked into the Matrix. Until then, I'll be grateful for the access that I have.

In John 13:7, Jesus said, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand."

That statement would have been like flinging a red cloth in front of a raging bull for me. How could I now understand Him? What was I missing? I want to understand and know it all ... right now!

John 16:13, "But when he, the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come."

Here's the deal. I'm so thankful to be living on this side of the coming of the Spirit of truth, I can hardly stand it. I get to look back at the teaching of Christ through eyes that see with the Holy Spirit. I don't have to be confused by His teachings, I don't have to wonder what it is that He means. The Holy Spirit has come and is here to help us understand and know it all.

1 Corinthians 13:12, "Now we see but a poor reflection, then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known."

Honestly, I'm grateful to know that there are things that will finally make sense to me once I get to heaven. Through all of the training I have gone through these last 35 years, God has been able to make a few things very clear to me. He is in charge, He knows and understands it all. He will reveal those things to me that He wants me to know and when the day comes that I stand before His throne, He will show me everything. I can be patient and await that day.