WHERE IS YOUR SECURITY?

Everyone who travels by air goes through airport security checkpoints. It’s not quite a full body check but dropping your shoes, stripping your belt and watching a complete stranger X-ray your undies can’t but not pinch a flyer’s sense of privacy. These TSA checkpoints are there for a reason. A good reason all agree. But there is a bit of irony in the pursuit of security when it demands the one seeking that security must first oblige by surrendering over the security that the flyer feels when they can keep their privates, private.

Privacy is the ability of secluding information about yourself from others. The more “personal” the information is felt to be, then the greater the gain to keep it under control.

Before God, we have no privacy. Ironically, in the Kingdom of God, the loss of privacy actually promotes a sense of security.

It is human nature to build walls and lock locks. It is God’s nature to tear down walls and unlock locks.

Jesus Christ taught that the Christian life is entered by the new birth. Jesus referred to the nature of children when describing the new birth. "Except you be converted, and become as little children," said the Lord Jesus, "you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 18:3).

Do you think that children have a developed sense of privacy? Or might they acquire their sense of it through watching their parents?

How invested are you in controlling your personal information? Do you give out your Social Security number? Do you order online? How has the wave of identity theft incidents changed the way you do business?

Your assignment this week is to scan your sense of privacy. You should prayerfully rethink the issue of privacy. Think of privacy issues along more spiritual lines rather than just using financial concerns as the only criteria.

The Apostle Paul was friendly to images of “childhood” as a meaty metaphor. The word “child and children” are guests on more than just one occasion in his first letter to the Corinthians. Paul liked the particular Greek term translated as “pre-talker.” Paul likened a child’s struggle to grow up as a parallel for a Christian seeking to “grow up in Christ. “

At the conclusion of First Corinthians chapter thirteen, he depicts that struggle with artistic persuasion. A small child looks out at a world that rarely makes enough sense. It’s a big world. It’s far too big to make a whole lot of sense. “Now, we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.” 1 Corinthians 13:12

The thought of imperfect seeing is Paul’s first point. Paul refers to the mirrors of his day. Ancient mirrors were often just polished metal and required constant polishing. The city of Corinth was famous for its production of mirrors; considered to be some of the finest. For the upper crust, metal mirrors weren’t sufficient. They could afford mirrors made out of agate. Nero the Roman Emperor was said to own a mirror made of polished emerald.

The figure of the mirror illustrated the struggle for maturity. How does one respond to a world where the laws and principles of God seem to be so easily subverted?

The word for “poor reflection” is the word for riddle. A riddle is a puzzle in the form of a question. Life’s big questions are “who are you?” “What do you want?” “Why are you here?” “Where are you going?” The path to maturity means you must try your best to answer these enigmas within the context of the world you live. If you rely only on your physical sight, you will be confused and perplexed.

In a world of sin and chaos, the Christian seldom finds the world outside them to be very cooperative.

Paul concludes with a key that unlocks the enigma. He directs the reader’s mind to look beyond the physical world and see a spiritual truth that is unchanging. “Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”

What is Paul saying? He is offering you a promise of ongoing security. Paul is persuading the Christian from seeking too much security from this world. How can one find a satisfactory level of security from something that is far too confusing to comprehend? But security can be found in “even as I am fully known.”

Remember the TSA scanner? They peer into your private sanctuary made by Samsonite? Remember feeling the uncomfortable pinch when you lost your sense of privacy at the terminal? Well, God has fully scanned you. He knows all. He knows you in ways that you could never know yourself. Standing in the presence of God, you lose your sense of privacy but the loss comes without being overcome with fear or embarrassment.

Paul is saying something about Christian maturity. The mature Christian finds their security in some other venue besides physical reality. In Christ, the individual stands naked – without walls or locks – before the eye of God. He knows all. He sees all. He embraces ALL of you with His embrace of grace and love. God’s loving embrace provides the security we crave in a world turned upside down.