Perception or Reality?

"They say that God is everywhere, and yet we always think of Him as somewhat of a recluse." - Emily Dickinson

I ran across this quote today and it got me thinking about our perceptions of God vs. reality. Reality is that God is indeed everywhere. Perception often tells us that he is reclusive because we don't "feel" his presence. We almost universally react not to what is truly real but our perceptions, our felt reality. Our actions are dictated not by what we say we believe or consciously would agree too, but rather by what we subconsciously believe - what our experiences have taught us is reality. Two of us may hear the same person give the same political speech and one may feel moved to action while the other distrusts the speaker’s sincerity and perhaps morality. How do we get our emotional/perceptual reality in line with our intellectual reality? Or actually the better question is “How do we realign to God’s reality?” In some ways I think this duality is reflected by Paul in chapter 7 of Romans when he talks about the good he wants to do and the evil that comes so easily.

One of my favorite artists is Charlie Peacock. He poses this problem this way in his song Heaven is a Real Place.

Oh for the eyes to see beyond this flesh and bone
To my final destination, to the city I’ll call home
Well it’s crazy to pretend and try and act like
I’m one of the locals
Every body knows that I’m really just a tourist
not by accident but by my own choice
Still so much of the time I live like this spinning
ball of land and ocean is my reality complete
Would you say a prayer for a change in me
This is what I want
This is what I need

I want to live like heaven is a real place
I want to live like heaven is a real place
In my everyday time and space
I want to live like heaven is a real place

God didn’t give up on the idea of Eden as
some misguided episode
The garden has given us place to the city where the
walk of God with man will be resumed
May my whole life reflect my belief that Heaven is
where I’ll spend eternity
That would be something, something to see
Till death is swallowed up in victory


So what is the answer? How do we experience this perception change? In the Old Testament we are told that when Moses went up the mountain to receive the 10 commandments He asked to see God’s reality and when he came back down he glowed with the fading radiance of God. In 2 Corinthians 3:18 Paul talks about this happening in our lives when he says "And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. This comes from the Lord who is the Spirit." Tim Hughes puts it this way when he says "The more we gaze at Him as we worship, the more like Him we gradually become. BEHOLDING IS BECOMING!"

The answer brings us back again to Romans 12:1-2 “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” The solution is intentionally, daily focusing on the Father. It comes from daily seeking His face, His presence, His touch. It is in this daily focus we are bit by bit shaped, bit by bit molded, bit by bit changed into the people we were created to be. The reality of this world fades and his surpassing glory – the true reality takes it’s place.

Father, mold me and shape me. Cleanse me with your fire. Sanctify me and may my reality be your reality. Amen

Seek His Presence
Dan