*FACE - also see +*3, EPIPHANY, EXPRESSION, IMAGE
Now we know - for we see him face to face, we are known of him, and we would be like him - that we, too, must pursue the calling of Christ's works, shunning not the goal of self-mastery which our own Teacher's discipleship discloses. (Lost Years, p412)
The face of God and the faces of Jacob and Esau are all one and the same. By facing his brother, Jacob would confront the face of his God; but he would also confront himself. Jacob was having to come to terms not only with his wronged brother, but with the "Esau" within. Jacob had to engage with the alter ego that he hated and had tried to discard. (Beginning, p91)
Wind and water, grass, beetles, human beings: all are his silently speaking face. Everything is God. (Contemplation, p132)
We want to put ourselves first. We want to be independent. We don't want to admit our dependence on God. We don't want too face the fact that we are made in God's image, for the biblical image of God is complete self-giving, complete loving. He didn't have to give human beings his life, but he did. He gave of himself by breathing his spirit into us. The truth is so simple, but is too much for us. It is not God who throws us out of paradise, we throw ourselves out of paradise by rejecting God's offer of a life of union, a life that comes through faith and forgiveness. (ThemesOT, p90)
God is always more than we think. In suffering, every person of faith eventually must climb. We need to face it, even though we'd rather not face it, and go through it. For it is by going through, living the mystery, that we find salvation. It is in the crucifixion that we discover resurrection. It is by letting go of life that we are set free to live. Suffering leads us into spiritual growth, if we take it in the right way. People who have experienced a great deal of undeserved suffering in their lives often reach a depth of wisdom and a quality of patience and an ability to love which is refreshing when you find it. They don't make demands on you; they are ready to accept you as you are. They don't go through life wanting people to serve them; they look for opportunities to help others. They are not very possessive of what they own; they regard everything they have as a gift... So it is not what happens to us that matters so much as our attitude and response to it. And it is only the response of faith, and self-abandonment, that sets us free. It sets us free from worry about the past and anxiety about the future. (ThemesOT, 104)
The roots of our personality lie on the the religious level [which is the deepest level of our character].It is there that our most fundamental self is formed. To find our true self, we need to uncover the religion we hold, consciously or unconsciously. To develop our true self, we need to affirm the religious values we want to live up to. WE HAVE TO COME FACE TO FACE WITH THE "GOD" WHO LURKS IN THE DEEPEST RECESSES OF OUR PERSONALITY. (How, p51)
I wonder if: in this physical world, seeing Him face to face would so overwhelming that it would work contrary to our free will to chose whether or not to have FAITH in Him. We will not be FULFILLED and COMPLETE until we see God face to face in the next world. However, with glimpses of Him in this world, it is like seeing a mosaic of Him. Unholiness (separation by not doing the will of God) can't see/recognize/know holiness, but through God's grace (umerited gift) He knocks at the door for us to open ourselves to see Him both within (via the Holy Spirit - ie. love and knowledge of truth) and without (in everything there is in the universe - ie. nature, music, people). (Randy)
For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. (I Cor 13)
Ex 23:20 Nobody see my face and live - In such inconceivable splendour is the Divine Majesty revealed to the inhabitants of the celestial world, where he is said to 'dwell in the light which no man can approach unto.' By the 'face of God,' therefore, we are to understand that light inaccessible before which angels may stand, but which would be so insufferable to mortal eyes, that no man could see it and live. (Web commentary)