Daily Reading // 1 Corinthians 13:9-13
READY // SILENCIO
Take a moment to quiet your mind and prepare your heart for your time with the Lord.
READ // LECTIO
Read the passage above up to three times aloud. Allow yourself to feel the words as they are read.
REFLECT // MEDITATIO
Now direct your focus on the words, phrases concepts or sentences that got your attention. What is God speaking to you today through His word?
1 Corinthians 13:9 (NKJV) For we know in part and we prophesy in part.
Knowledge and prophecy are both good things. They are both given to us by God to understand the world we live in. One, knowledge, by more natural means of discovery, reason and experimentation. The other, prophecy, through a more direct spiritual means of revelation.
Neither knowledge nor prophecy is able to give us the full picture. We see parts - glimpses - of the whole. We know in part and we prophesy in part. That’s the way it is. That’s how God designed it. Natural understanding and supernatural understanding have the same limitation here. Both are in part.
The problem becomes when someone thinks they know it all. As if they have everything figured out, naturally or spiritually, leaving no room for the unknown. They’ve got it all figured out. They have the right answer for every question. If you don’t line up with them you are quite simply wrong.
Don’t be that person.
There is no mystery left. No room for growth. No uncertainty.
The most important thing to know is that you don’t know everything. And the things you think you know should be tested and evaluated because you could be wrong. Maybe the other person is right and you are wrong after all. Be courageous enough to consider other options.
When someone thinks they are right about everything, they are wrong. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. There is still so much more for us to learn, especially about God and about eternity.
In eternity so much will be revealed. I will understand clearly things that are so perplexing to me now. Try as I might there are some things I’m not going to understand in this life.
I’m okay with that.
RESPOND // ORATIO
Pray in response to what the Lord has spoken to you.
Jesus, I don’t have to know everything because I know that You do. I trust You. Give me natural and supernatural understanding to know all I’m supposed to know and learn to leave the rest to You. Amen.
Tomorrow’s reading -> 1 Corinthians 14:1-11