An Issue of Reality

 

Photo by Donald Giannatti on Unsplash

At its core, the Christian life is fundamentally a matter of reality and references. In our cultural moment, we face a subtle yet pervasive temptation to let our subjective reference points—our shifting emotions, personal preferences, immediate circumstances, and cultural opinions—define what is real. We construct small, self-referential shelters to protect our comfort, often falling into the deceptive language of "my truth" and "your reality." But reality is not something we invent or manipulate; it is the objective, Author-defined terrain established by the Triune God, entirely independent of our personal feelings or philosophical gymnastics. When we use our fragile emotions as the ultimate standard of truth, we inevitably set ourselves up for exhaustion, confusion, and despair.

The Gospel does not offer us a pious shield to isolate us from the harsh edges of existence, nor does it ask us to practice a plastic, unfeeling stoicism. Instead, the glorious inheritance we have in Christ—unfolded so lavishly in Ephesians 1—empowers us to confront the totality of reality square in the eye without fear and without hiding. The Gospel Constants of God’s sovereign holiness, our redemption in Jesus, and the certainty of our eternal inheritance act as a shield of protection against hopelessness. Because our standing before the Father is legally secured and eternally sealed by the Holy Spirit, we are finally freed from the exhausting need to deny our severe sorrows or turn our fleeting earthly delights into fragile idols. Both are placed in their proper perspective: sovereignly appointed tools to help us know ourselves better and to know our faithful God more deeply.

This is the true freedom that cannot be found anywhere outside the finished work of Christ. The Gospel does not diminish our humanity; it redeems it. United to the living Savior, we no longer have to spend our days making excuses for our circumstances or frantically trying to hold our curated worlds together. We can step out into our ordinary Tuesdays with a quiet, solid equilibrium—fully embracing our redeemed humanity, engaging the real world with courage and compassion, and resting securely in the God who governs all of reality for His glory and our eternal good.

Blessings

-AV