To Encourage You

Philemon 4-7 “I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers . . .For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.”

Heaven will be wonderful place.  One of the reasons for this is the full and wonderful understanding that will come to us about things that we know very little about right now.  One of the closing verses of 1 Corinthians 13, otherwise known as “the love chapter,” is this: “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.” Note particularly the last part of this verse “then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” 

Typically, when I have read this verse, I have thought it to be a reference to fully knowing God as He fully knows us.  And that may be in mind, although I question if we will ever fully know God in all His infinitude.  But note that the verse talks about looking in a mirror.  What you see in a mirror is your own reflection.  It is clear that one of the things the Bible does, besides teaching us truth about God, is that it shows us ourselves.  James speaks of this when he says “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like” (James 1:23-24).    So, in this context, could the passage from 1 Corinthians 13 be, in part, a wonderful acknowledgement that one day, if we have lived a life of love as described in the preceding verses, there will come a knowledge about our lives that we will never fully know here on earth?  

I think we see a glimpse of this in Paul’s letter to Philemon, particularly in the passage above. Notice that Paul tells Philemon of the thanks that he gives to God when he remembers Philemon in his prayers. And why such thanks? It’s because of what God has been doing in and through Philemon’s life.  He tells him in verse 5 that he gives thanks “because I hear of your love and the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints.” Then in verse 7 he continues with an acknowledgement of how Philemon’s life of love had given Paul joy and comfort and refreshed the hearts of many of the saints.  It’s important to note that Paul is writing these words from prison.  Before Philemon had received this letter from Paul, it’s very unlikely that he would have realized how his own obedience to Christ had had not just direct benefits to those saints who met in the church in Philemon’s house and thus the people he rubbed shoulders with day after day, but also the wonderful indirect benefits, if you will, of comforting Paul and being a source of joy as he languished in prison. 

I am certain that these same kinds of things are happening day in and day out all over the world , often without the knowledge of believers..  As I hear about the faithfulness of persecuted believers in places like North Korea and Eritrea, my heart is encouraged to keep pressing on to serve the Lord.  Yet those believers surely have absolutely no knowledge of such effects of their lives on me and other believers right now. They have never even met me (or most other Christians). However, one day they will know fully what their lives have meant, even as this is known fully by their Savior right now.  Likewise, as you and I live a life of love (which is a summary of what living the life of a believer really should be), the knowledge of the benefits and blessings that our life is to others is not known even a little bit. We see as in a mirror darkly.  The effects of our prayers, giving, words, and actions that have been motivated by the love that God has placed in our hearts are largely unknown to us right now.  So often we think nothing about the gift we’ve given, or the prayers we’ve prayed beyond the moment in which those prayers were offered. So often, when we look in the mirror of God’s Word, we see our own shortcomings for we see our lives set alongside that of our sinless Savior.  We may think that we’ve just never done enough.  It’s that sense of “the continuing debt to love one another” (Romans 13:8), in light of the infinite ways in which the Lord has loved us.  However, God can do much with what we’ve given Him (no matter what it is). 

We remember how the boy who gave five loaves and two fish to Jesus saw that gift multiplied to feed over 5,000 men with 12 baskets full of leftovers. Beyond this, how many millions of people have been blessed and encouraged in all the years since that moment as they’ve read this story.  Even so, as we love, give, and pray in whatever seemingly feeble ways we can, we will never know what God has done with those things until we see the Lord face to face. 

I’m reminded of the account in Matthew 25 which prophesies how Jesus will tell those who have followed Him, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.” Interestingly, the believers will say to Him, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?”  It is then that Jesus will answer, “Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.”  And the wonderful truth is that believers will have all eternity to learn the specifics! 

May God help us to live a life of love as we look to the day when we will fully know, even as we are fully known now by our Lord.  And may we be encouraged with the truth that no matter what little thing (in our eyes) we might do to glorify God, even if it is to give a little one a cup of cold water in Jesus’ name because that person is one of the Master’s disciples (Matthew 10:42), it will be richly rewarded in heaven one day! 

Yes, heaven will be a wonderful place, particularly for those who have lived a life of simple obedience, moment by moment and day after day, to serve our awesome Lord.