S17P15 – When Jesus walked in: new knowledge
Col. 3:9-10
Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
This passage speaks of us being renewed in the image of our Creator through knowledge. It may not be the clearest concept at face value, but without increased knowledge we cannot be conformed to the image of God. It stands to reason that we can only grow to become more like him after we first learn what He is like. He shows us this through his word, his Spirit and his intimate work in, through and with us. To emulate God is to know God. Without that knowledge, we can only imitate our own formulated image of him. This renewal in knowledge, however, goes beyond our capacity to learn with these imperfect minds in this temporary world.
One day, our knowledge will be complete. We will go from imperfect, partial knowledge to knowing in full. “For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears” [1 Cor. 13:9-10]. And when the partial disappears, it is replaced with the complete. “Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known” [1 Cor. 13:12b]. God desires that we should know all of him, and one day we will get there. Knowing all of him means having knowledge in full. This is a process now, but it will one day come to completion. We have questions now, but one day we will ask them no more.
We can spend our lives dedicated to acquiring knowledge of all the things that will one day pass away. This is fruitless, as knowledge of the temporary will only pass away with the temporary. It will not remain eternally. But God welcomes us into the realm of learning of the eternal. He invites us to know the things only He can show us, the things that will never pass away, and as we do so we become more and more like him. Father, give us a desire to be conformed more and more into your image by increased knowledge of You and all that is eternal.