For me the part of the Bible that makes most sense is of this is in 1 Corinthians and I'm putting it in full here because I think it helps to read it as a whole piece.
' If I had the gift of being able to speak in other languages without learning them and could speak in every language there is in all of heaven and earth, but didn’t love others, I would only be making noise. If I had the gift of prophecy and knew all about what is going to happen in the future, knew everything about everything, but didn’t love others, what good would it do? Even if I had the gift of faith so that I could speak to a mountain and make it move, I would still be worth nothing at all without love. If I gave everything I have to poor people, and if I were burned alive for preaching the Gospel but didn’t love others, it would be of no value whatever.
Love is very patient and kind, never jealous or envious, never boastful or proud, 5 never haughty or selfish or rude. Love does not demand its own way. It is not irritable or touchy. It does not hold grudges and will hardly even notice when others do it wrong. It is never glad about injustice, but rejoices whenever truth wins out. If you love someone, you will be loyal to him no matter what the cost. You will always believe in him, always expect the best of him, and always stand your ground in defending him.^
All the special gifts and powers from God will someday come to an end, but love goes on forever. Someday prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge—these gifts will disappear. Now we know so little, even with our special gifts, and the preaching of those most gifted is still so poor. But when we have been made perfect and complete, then the need for these inadequate special gifts will come to an end, and they will disappear.
It’s like this: when I was a child I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child does. But when I became a man my thoughts grew far beyond those of my childhood, and now I have put away the childish things. In the same way, we can see and understand only a little about God now, as if we were peering at his reflection in a poor mirror; but someday we are going to see him in his completeness, face-to-face. Now all that I know is hazy and blurred, but then I will see everything clearly, just as clearly as God sees into my heart right now
There are three things that remain—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.'
So 'In the same way, we can see and understand only a little about God now, as if we were peering at his reflection in a poor mirror; but someday we are going to see him in his completeness, face-to-face' - what that means to me is an explanation of what people are referring to when they talk about God's plan for our lives. Basically there is a plan but we aren't able to perceive it and in any case our life on earth is only a staging point on this journey. It's very easy to sound trite when talking about this and that's one of the things people resent most about Christians - a tendency to smugly assert we've got it all sorted and nothing bad will happen. Well that's nonsense. Bad things happen to Christians all the time. I believe God is with us, I believe in miracles and in the comfort His love brings but I can tell you one thing for sure. God doesn't pick and choose who gets the miracles based on what we do. Can you imagine how terrible that would be - if you could basically buy a miracle by praying hard enough and every time something bad happens its therefore your fault because you didn't pray enough....eeek.
Having a faith is relying on something you cannot see nor can you rationalise it. If you could prove it you wouldn't need faith, you could rely on what you can see. We have the evidential proof of the Gospels but even then it's in faith that you accept what truly happened.You can make the resurrection and the miracles of Christ fit in to a conspiracy theory of rational explanation without much trouble. It's only faith that leads you to say ' Christ died on the cross for my sins and then rose again'
I am reading a very powerful blog at the moment written by a woman whose son, short of a miracle, is dying from a brain tumour. Her faith is amazing. She desperately wants to keep her boy with her and see his life live out over the next 80 years but she is putting her hand in that of God and saying 'not my will but yours'. As I go through my life that's what I'm trying to do. Doesn't mean I accept the tragedies and the grief and the pain and the fear with a shrug of the shoulders. I don't. I get angry and I DO NOT UNDERSTAND. But I know that's sort of the point. I do not understand, I simply have to hold on to my faith and know that death is not the end. I am redeemed and I will see my redeemer face to face one day and in the words of Revelation 'He will wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor pain. All of that has gone forever'