The Most Excellent Way: Known

The Most Excellent Way

A Small Group Devotional

Week 11: Known

“For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”

1 Corinthians 13:9-12, NIV Tweet

Reading

Read the following texts.

Discussion

None of us see ourselves clearly whether as individuals, a church, or a community. Likewise, we cannot truly see others clearly. We begin to understand ourselves and each other through our interactions whether in healthy or destructive ways. This suggests that we approach every relationship and context with a measure of uncertainty about ourselves, others, and the world around us.

Why do you think it matters that we accept uncertainty and humbly acknowledge our ignorance?
How would you characterize the ways, thoughts, reasoning, and messaging of a child? What does it look like for a church to put its childhood behind it and become an adult?
What role does self-awareness and self-reflection play in practicing and embodying unfailing love however difficult and incomplete it may be?
How can the various spiritual gifts move us to a more honest understanding of who we are? How can the “spiritual gifts” be used to mask and hide who we really are?
How does recognizing that we are fully known despite not fully knowing ourselves enable us to better love those we don’t know or understand?