BY GREG CRUM
“While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” II Corinthians 4:18
Our five senses are God-given gifts that enable us to navigate successfully in this natural world, but, at times, they can be a hindrance in our efforts to see things as God sees them and walk in the greater realities of the eternal.
Last week we began to think about living our lives in the reality of God. We noted that according to Scripture, our minds don’t, by default, think the way God thinks. On the contrary, by default, we will think about things the way the world does and, in turn, see this life the way the unbeliever would. That’s why we are encouraged to “renew” our minds in Romans 12.
Now, most of us understand that the starting point for Biblical mind renewal is reading the Bible, but mind renewal that achieves a like perspective with God takes more than just casual reading of the Bible. It takes allowing what we read and what is revealed by the Holy Spirit through that reading to change our minds from what we previously thought to what God thinks instead. This is the first step, and a big one at that, in living Godly (or in His reality).
Now, thinking about reality, last week we gave you some definitions for that as well. You’ll remember that, in summation, it is the totality of what is real and something that genuinely exists independent of personal beliefs.
With that established, let me ask you a question. Does one personally have to see or feel something for it to be real? Well, based on the definition of reality, you’d have to say no, right? For example, just because I’ve never seen Mount Rushmore personally doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. What’s more, even if I didn’t believe it existed (maybe I thought all the pictures on TV and all the eyewitness experiences of others were lies and hoaxes) that wouldn’t mean that it didn’t exist in reality.
Okay, let’s take this a step further.
What if you feel or see contrary evidence to something others say is a reality? Would that cause it to be unreal? Say I’ve seen a video that shows where people say Mount Rushmore is located and there are no faces of presidents, just an unadulterated mountainscape. Maybe I really believe this video evidence and that all the world is being lied to. Does that make the monument at Mount Rushmore a fake? Nope, of course not.
Stepping away from the Mount Rushmore analogy, let me ask you a couple more questions so you can see where we are going with this. What if two “real” things contradict? What I mean is, what if you have two “realities” that in most minds logically can’t coexist but are presented as though they do? What do you do then? Which side do you choose?
Brothers and sisters, in this life our senses will often contradict God’s Word and offer a different and opposing reality. For instance, your senses may tell you that you feel sick, but God’s Word states that by Jesus’ “stripes ye were healed.” (I Peter 2:24)
Your eyes may show you regional and personal poverty, but the Word states that God will “supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19).
Very opposing viewpoints or realities, right? So, which side are you going to choose?
Hopefully you side with God and declare along with Romans 3:4, “Let God be true, but every man a liar” even if it’s your own senses you have to call a liar!
Friends, God has life more abundantly for all believers. It’s real and for us today, but as believers we must side with God and choose His reality over what we sometimes see, hear and feel. We must embrace by faith the mindset of the Lord and then we can begin to step into the alternate reality that He has promised us in the Scriptures.
Greg Crum is the pastor of Calvary Temple in Lovely.