The Gift of Being Known

Paul places being fully known in the future — the eschatological moment when we see face to face. But he does not leave us with nothing in the present. The movement of the Christian life is toward greater knowing and being known — gradually, imperfectly, and through the mediation of community as much as anything.

There is a profound longing in most human hearts to be fully known and fully loved at the same time. We sense, often rightly, that these two things are in tension — that if people knew us completely, they might love us less. So we manage the information. We present carefully. We keep certain rooms locked.

But community that stays at the managed level is not community in the deep sense. It is proximity without presence. And the faith community has a specific gift to offer that other communities often do not: the assurance that we are already fully known by God and fully loved by him, which changes what it costs to be known by others.

When you know you are loved at the foundation — not because of your performance but because of grace — the threat of being known diminishes. You can afford to let someone see the unedited version because your identity is not held hostage to their approval. This is what grace does for community: it lowers the cost of honesty by removing the ultimate consequence of rejection.

You will not be fully known this side of heaven. But you can be more known than you currently are. And that movement — toward honesty, toward vulnerability, toward letting one or two people see the real you — is part of what it means to be rooted in community.

Let someone a little closer today.