We Live in Two Realities
There is an old saying; “seeing is believing.”
But read on…just because it’s old doesn’t mean it is irrelevant. There is truth in these words. A few days ago, my eyes witnessed massive waves on a fresh water lake. I SAW them. I believed in waves. We all operate under this assumption-if you can see it, it exists, and if something exists, it must be true. See it-believe it… But this phrase is also described as an idiom. Idioms are expressions which are not meant to be taken literally. Seeing is believing appears to be a true statement, perhaps it may be an idiom exception, perhaps it should not be described as an idiom?
Now this is my opinion, most of the time, “seeing is believing” is an accurate way to understand things. I have actual photos of the waves. If you can see it, you can touch it. If you can touch it, this “it” is real, and exists. I did not touch the waves-too wet…and way too big!
Now for the exception to this statement. It is the primary, exclusive exception.
There is a time when seeing is not believing. We are wise to understand that there is a foremost reality we CANNOT see. And if our way of understanding life is entirely based on the concept of “seeing is believing” we WILL miss this reality. If we are unwilling to believe unless we see it…the biggest reality is lost to us. This reality is not visible. To believe in something we cannot see requires faith. The Bible tells us what faith is. Hebrews 11:1 explains it this way: “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” You say, “I cannot believe in something I cannot see. I don’t have enough faith.” Well, there is an answer for that…God gives faith. He gives it for free and assurance comes with it.
There is another thing about this unseen reality. Belief in this reality brings peace. And peace in life depends upon a simple strategy. It is answered by 2 simple questions-What are you looking at? and Who are you looking at?
Consider this, there are two kinds of reality. No, I am not losing my mind. There are two kinds of reality. The earthly kind we can understand with our senses, the “seeing is believing” stuff. The other reality is the unseen reality. I did not say an unseen, there are not multiple unseen realities-there is only one. The unseen reality is eternal. It has a name, it’s called heaven. We cannot see it to believe it, and this reality requires faith. Remember, we don’t need to worry about faith, we already said, God gives it.
The Apostle Paul is highly qualified to speak this truth, regarding this unseen reality: inspired by the Holy Spirit, and having experienced significant life hardships...Paul knew what he was writing about. There are two realities: those of earth, the seen and those of heaven, the unseen. We will read his words about this in a moment. First the two questions…
1. What are we looking at?
Looking...meaning what has our attention, what occupies our thoughts, what is important to us. As we live here on earth, what we look at is centered about the old “seeing is believing” idiom. The solution to happiness, joy and peace on earth is found in the answer to the 1st question It’s is difficult to ignore the realities of our world today. Rioting, violence, looting, racial issues, hatred, lies, anger, and the impacts of a virus. These demand our attention. They are real. But there is another fact to consider. This is the most important fact: all of these realities are temporary. That’s right, temporary. All events, everything with extreme importance here on earth, all are temporary. They come to an end…What we are looking at is momentary. Remember those waves? They were gone when the wind stopped blowing. Are we looking at earthly-seen things or eternal, heavenly things? Peace is not found on earth.
2. Who are we looking at?
This question enables us to arrive at the other reality. Jesus is real. He exists even though we cannot see Him. Jesus is the answer. He exists unseen in this reality-earth; and He is seen in the other reality…heaven and eternity. To see the eternal reality, we look at Jesus. Only His power brings true peace, and true lasting reality. Now-read the Apostle Paul's answer for the two realities, and the problems of today…
“Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So, we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
What are we looking at?
To whom do we look?
All of this seems counter intuitive- but it's not- what we see is momentary, temporary (riots, violence, virus, hatred, lies-even lake waves)- and what we cannot see lasts forever, eternal. There is infinite hope in this! We can ask God for the faith to believe. While we cannot see him now…Jesus is the eternal reality! He is the unseen reality. Rest, be assured, believe what is unseen lasts forever. Because of Jesus we are included.