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“Wisdom and truth will enter the very center of your being, filling your life with joy.” — Proverbs 2:10, TLB I have heard people say that believers live in a “Christian bubble,” overly sheltered from the world and “real life.” But what is “real life?” Several years ago when I underwent laser surgery on my eyes, the doctor deliberately fixed my eyes to different strengths—one for close up, one for distance. My brain, he said, would merge the two and I would see normally. That’s how easily our perception can be changed. Those who live with “wisdom and truth” at the center of their beings are the true realists. The lie is that abuse, wars, pain, and suffering is our only reality. We can’t ignore evil. We must wage a spiritual war as we serve and love others to relieve pain and suffering. But this is not the reality God intends for His children. When Jesus walked the earth, people were amazed by the miracles He performed. The supernatural world had broken into their lives. Miracles were regarded then, and now, as a temporary suspension of reality. But the opposite is true. The miracles of Jesus were moments of reality breaking through into the unreal world. Miracles are normal for the kingdom of God! Solomon wrote that God “put eternity” in our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11). We are supposed to live in His eternal kingdom and experience His supernatural power. Reality is obscured every day. When our perceptions are rooted in God’s Word, we are living the truth. When our vision gets skewed, lacking God’s perspective, we see events and circumstances through a deceptive prism—and all the junk begins to look “normal.” God put Adam and Eve in the real world He intended for them—Paradise. When they disobeyed Him, believing Satan’s lie (“You will not surely die … you will be like God,” Genesis 3:4–5), they chose to walk out of reality into the morass of unreality. Sin and confusion have plagued the human race ever since. Reality is that God promised to care for His children. When we leave His kingdom, we end up doing something that will harm us. When we enter into a relationship of trust with the Lord, we step back into the real world. We allow reality to be manifested by what will seem like miracles to others, but which we come to recognize as “normal” in the kingdom of God. “Seek first the kingdom of God,” Jesus said (Matthew 6:33). “Your kingdom come. Your will be done,” He prayed (Matthew 6:10). First the kingdom. Reality. Then God’s will, where His blessings will be poured out upon you. Every day, we need to make a conscious decision to meditate on God’s Word and choose to live in the “real” world.
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