Reality vs. The Truth

In the Book of Proverbs, it it written that,

“In their hearts humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps.” (Proverbs 16:9)

The “real” reason we survive is because we’re strong and wise. That’s our reasoning. That’s what we can agree to as far our senses care and can assess.

But the true cause of our survival is not that we’re so strong, because we’re not. It’s not that we so obedient, because we’re not. It’s not that we’re so smart, because we’re not. It’s not that we’re so wise, because we’re not. It’s not that we’re so loving, because we’re not. It’s not that we’re so forgiving, because we’re not. It’s not that we know it all and understand it all, because we don’t.
Reality to us is what we can see, hear, taste, feel, think and smell. That’s our reality. Even scientists struggle at convincing others of things that cannot readily be measured by their senses. When they can’t prove or clearly explain something, they start sharing what they believe about such a thing. Reality then ought to be understood as a small representation of the truth, small enough for our minds, our senses, to grasp and appreciate.

“You can’t handle the truth”, we often hear. And that’s a true statement. We can’t handle the truth. We can’t make it, can’t hide it, can’t control it. Yet what is important is that the truth handles us. Therefore, the truth, not our reality, as it concerns the cause of our survival, is God’s mercy and love. God is ever-patient, self-giving, forgiving, ever-compassionate. If we were to be fully punished by God, there’d be nothing of us left. If we were to be fully punished by God, we’d probably never exist in the first place. He’d make sure we don’t have the legs that He knows would be used in time to hurt another person. He’d make sure we don’t have the mind that would later be used to deny his existence. He’d make sure we never come to existence in the first place. I mean, why would our Creator keep on allowing the same creature to multiply over and over again despite of all the evils it has caused? Simple. God is ever-loving.

We can easily conclude our existence as proof that we’re strong, obedient and wise. Our psyche demands that we hold such stance so that we don’t sync into self-condemnation. The truth about our existence is so far from the nice thoughts we often want to be true about ourselves.
Wouldn’t it be nice to feel proud? Wouldn’t it be nice to have all of our successes in perspective all at once? Wouldn’t it be nice to have all that we’ve worked so hard for right before our eyes and feel good about them? To me it would be like being stimulated by a cup of coffee or maybe a sweetened drink. The only issue then is the withdrawal from the caffeine, withdrawal from the stimulation. And that’s what we often get up and try to do daily: reassess our successes. The only issue is then, whenever we try to do so, the failures suddenly surface, the unfinished works, the soreness, the pains, the negative thoughts, the weaknesses…and suddenly, our reality has changed. Great things are happening around us, but our focus are on what we consider to be the failures.

There’s a small note of generous value left to mankind by which mankind can infinitely draw all of its pride. Such small note is the gospel. Despite everything that could ever be going wrong, or temporarily right, the gospel is always good news.

“I’ve got good news for you”, don’t you just love hearing such statement? Even before the news is announced, you’ve already drawn in a new portion of fresh air, making space for the good news.

The good news left by Christ Jesus for all of mankind is that God loves them. Because if God can punish His Son in place of punishing mankind, that is a fact that any human being should appreciate. The challenges are, “how real is such a fact to any human being” and “how true is such a fact to any human being.” And, as always, we need help to address such challenges, and the only available help is God himself.

Our reality is for a moment. It changes according to time and our understanding . But the truth is eternal and remains the same from beginning to end.

When the Holy Spirit fills a person, it’s not just so that they would have God in their mind, but that they would feel God in all of their beings, something to appreciate more than our mind can understand but that our body can feel. When the Holy Spirit fills us, overwhelms us, it is to invade our own reality by God’s reality so that above everything else we’ve come to term with the fact at we are truly at peace in the love of God, truly at peace in Christ.