God is depending on us to proclaim that He is the great Reality, and that only He can give meaning to all other realities. A. W. Tozer
Every Christian faces multiple realities on a regular basis. Every time we sit across from someone, there are at least three realities at play. Navigating the overlay and interplay is challenging – particularly when the other has a different worldview. Thinking Christianly in meaningful conversation requires that we avail ourselves of kingdom truth about those realities.
Reality number one is the big “R” Reality. It is the way things really are. For anyone that believes in a higher power, the big “R” Reality is what that power has created it to be. That Reality includes the past, present, and future – it is eternal and still under construction. That Reality consists of at least three levels: subatomic, physical, and spiritual. It is BIG and complicated. Our minds are not capable of understanding most of it.
Reality number two is our little “r” reality – our perception of the Big “R” Reality. Our mind regularly assumes it has a good grasp of Reality – that its perceptions are accurate and complete. This is both naïve and arrogant. It can also be quite dangerous. Consider the jet pilot who has lost his orientation. His perception of Reality tells him that he is flying right-side-up. Not realizing he is flying upside-down, he “climbs” into the ground. This actually happens.
Reality number three is the little “r” perception of Reality for the person across from us. His/her mind also assumes that it has a good grasp on Reality, even while it works to project a reality that may be protectively false (as we might do ourselves). Is it any wonder our conversations with people, both Christian and not, have become so shallow?
Now get this: Both of you and your friend default to the assumption that the other’s perception is very close to his/her own. If they are, then the potential for missing the big “R” Reality is only doubled. If they are not, then the likelihood for confusion, misunderstanding, deception, etc. is exponentially greater than we recognize.
So, what’s the lesson here?
As humble children of God, we must become more suspicious of what we are thinking – about ourselves and others. Our perceptions of Reality – even the biblical doctrines we carry around – are limited, at best.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9
We must also become more aware of the worldviews being projected at us. Are we subconsciously adopting them to get along, or to avoid uncomfortable conflict? The Bible warns against such compromise.
Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful… Psalm 1:1
Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.” 1Corinthians 15:33
Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God. 3John 1:11
Furthermore, we must invest more time and energy searching out the Reality of God.
It is the glory of God to conceal a matter,
But the glory of kings is to search out a matter. Proverbs 25:2
God does not hide the truth so that it will not be found, but to encourage our searching (Acts 17:26-28). We have been blessed to know the mysteries of God (Matthew 13:11-17), we have been given heavenly perspective (Ephesians 2:6), and we are called to be faithful stewards of God’s mysterious Reality (2Corinthians 4:1-2).
The chaos of this decade, the meaning crisis it has exposed, and the wandering and/or prodigal children of God who are returning to their King call out to us to be found faithful with the truth. The time has come – perhaps the last chance for some of us – to turn ourselves from the world’s way of thinking.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Romans 12:2
How have we been secularized?
The secularization of the church regarding the truth has occurred progressively since the Enlightenment, but much more aggressively in the last several decades. Our first compromise, referenced in a previous article, bears repeating: For decades, if not centuries, the church has focused its teaching on behavior, values, and belief – to the neglect of training in the discovery and application of biblical truth.
Tragically, the church has given responsibility for training Christians in the way we should think over to the secular humanists. It is perhaps the single most destructive decision the church has made in its modern history.
After thirteen or more years in the secular education system, we are instructed by our employers to leave religion at home. Without strong encouragement from church leaders, the vast majority of Christians acquiesced. It’s a hard word to hear, but for most of us, our conformity with the world runs as deep as you would expect from decades of indoctrination in secular humanistic ideology.
Regrettably, we did not take a similarly hard stance against the world’s influence coming into the church. The devastation has been well chronicled: abortion, adultery, divorce, and now sexual perversion. But the deeper, hidden compromise has been our adoption of the world’s approach to seeking and understanding truth. We have determined that truth can be obtained by study and reason, what A. W. Tozer (among others) called textualism, evangelical rationalism, and the work of the evangelical scribe (de Bruyn, 2016).
Moving On to Illumination
Study produces intelligence – the knowledge of things (including the Bible). While we can apply intelligence to our lives through reason, God has gifted us with a greater capability. Study and reason will not produce a knowing beyond knowledge; for example, to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge (Ephesians 3:19).
God has offered us revelation – access to His intelligence and reason. We have the mind of Christ (1Corinthians 2:16)! No matter how hopeful the Enlightenment thinkers might have been, human intelligence and reason will not produce revelation. Revelation is the knowledge of things in the context of Reality, revealed by Those who know Reality best: the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, our teachers.
But revelation is not enough! There must be illumination before revelation can get to a person’s soul. A. W. Tozer
This matter of illumination may be as foreign to you as it was to me when I first encountered Tozer’s writing on the subject. According to Merriam-Webster, illuminate means to “to supply or brighten with light.” This is quite interesting in light of (pun intended) Jesus Christ being our light (John 1:4) and His command to let your light so shine before men (Matthew 5:16). David de Bruyn (2016) explains Tozer’s meaning this way:
What Tozer meant by illumination was the Spirit’s work of opening the spiritual understanding, of granting the soul an experience of admiration, adoration, and communion. He meant that the text by itself would provide information, but the text and the Spirit would bring illumination, and the vast difference between the two was the difference between “a nominal Christian life and a life radiant with the light of His face.” One was the experience of acquiring a competent grasp of the Christian system of thought, the other was a living encounter with God through His Spirit in His Word.
As I have come to understand it, illumination is the manifestation of the revelation of God in and through His people. Illumination comes through transformation by the renewing of our mind (Romans 12:2) into the very image of the glory of the Lord (2Corinthians 3:18), whereby men see His light in our good work and glorify our Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16).
Tozer’s emphasis on illumination highlights the vast chasm lying between secular and Christianly thinking. For some, this may appear to be a distance too far. Be encouraged that the journey is not a lonely one, and the necessary transformation is not your work.
For those wondering why you should go there, consider once again the treasures that await on the other side. We were recreated – newly born of our Heavenly Father – for more. More of Him, more of His Son, and more of His Spirit. More hope, faith, and love. More healing, peace, and blessing. All the mores are there, there with Them, including more of the truth about the true Reality in the room.
I am going to close here to once again give us an opportunity to weigh the truth about the Christian mind’s pursuit and conception of the truth.
God bless you with the love of the truth and a desire to search it out to your and His glory.
Humbly yours and forever His,
Rob
#iamjustthepen
de Bruyn, D. (April 28th, 2016). Tozer’s First Concern – Illumination. Religious Affections Ministries. https://religiousaffections.org/articles/articles-on-theology/tozers-first-concern-illumination/
Tozer, A. W. (nd.). Revelation is not Enough. Bible Portal. https://bibleportal.com/sermon/AW-Tozer/revelation-is-not-enough