davidbowerkingwood

Breaking the Chains that Bind You!

In May of 2014 I published an essay entitled, “The Painted Veil That Hides Reality.” In it I pointed out the challenge we face in distinguishing what is real from what is a transient facade. For some reason it has developed a life of its own and is read almost every day by someone, somewhere.

I have, for many years, observed the challenge I face, on almost a daily basis, in keeping my focus on the spiritual realities of life and living. The classic three, “the world, the flesh, and the devil” seek to misdirect my attention away from spiritual realities and focus it on the things of this world.

Society today seeks to point us toward the empiricist approach to life as opposed to a life of faith. If we were to examine a dictionary definition of empiricism, we would find something similar to the following:

em·pir·i·cism (ĕm-pîr–ĭ-sĭz′əm) 1. The view that experience, especially of the senses, is the only source of knowledge. (American Heritage Dictionary)

Obviously, such an approach excludes faith as a valid source of knowledge. The message of the Bible, which is a message of faith, becomes completely irrelevant and even foolish as the Bible points out in 1 Corinthians 1:18 where it is written:

¹⁸ For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Curiously, empiricism itself demonstrates how futile it is when it comes to living a life that is complete, and filled with peace and joy! The media is filled with breaking news of repeated failures to find the kind of peace and joy offered by a life of faith; the veil that has been painted by Satan is doing its job very well indeed.

A Life Filled with Challenge

The Lord knew his children would face these challenges and has given us a book of faith, the Bible, to help us find ourselves and provide the orientation we need to find our way in this troubled world.

In Hebrews 11 we are told of the necessity of a faith approach to life; in verse 6:

⁶ Now without faith it is impossible to please him, for the one who approaches God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

In Romans 1:17 we read:

¹⁷ This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”

Later in Romans Paul tells us in Chapter 10, verse 17:

¹⁷ So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

The Astounding Truth About the Reality in Which we Live!

By God’s grace, I have followed a journey of discovery which began for me as a young man; one manifestation of his grace to me was the gift of my wife to join with me in this journey of discovery. For over 66 years we have journeyed through life together and shared in the amazing discoveries God had planned for us.

It all began when we were blessed with a serious hunger for the word of God, the Bible, and began to discover the wondrous truths revealed there. There are no words to express the profound difference it began to make in our lives. As one might expect, our journey has been filled with obstacles, difficulties, failures and successes; it has not always been an easy road but God’s unfailing faithfulness to us always carried us through the really hard parts.

Out of all this has emerged a genuine awe for the true reality in which we live; the reality that God reveals in the Bible will outlast all we can observe with our senses. In a very true way, our senses have imprisoned us in a world that is little better than a painted veil; we experience those things we can examine with our senses and let that experience become the beginning and the ending of what, and who we are. It is like being confined to a very small cell and not realizing our creator God has already opened the door to our cell and is encouraging us to leave our cell and go beyond the confines of our cell of personal experience and explore the universe of faith that lies beyond.

We are Living in the Most Extraordinary Universe of All!

I have dedicated a number of essays to the subject of God’s reality and encouraged readers to step outside their cell and explore the eternal, spiritual realities that await them. As a science fiction enthusiast, I have read stories set in many different universes as conceived by the mind of the writer; I can promise you that none of those universes can compare to the universe described in the Bible, no, not to the very least degree!

The universe in which we live is infinitely more imaginative, exciting, and challenging than anything I’ve ever read in the field of fantasy or science fiction; I can promise you that! In “What is Reality?” I described the Triune God as the only true reality; I elaborated on that theme in a seven part series, “It’s All True, All of If.” 

The bottom-line truth is we are living in a totally fantastic universe that defies human imagination; the things God has done are off-the-charts amazing! What is rather shocking to me is how little attention this is given by those who have been incorporated into God’s plan by the new birth.

The Trinity has taken immense steps to redeem his fallen creation; the second person of the Trinity took on the humanity of his creation and permitted it to die to redeem it; the third person of the Trinity has come to earth to create an eternal bond by restoring their spiritual life and eternally indwelling those who have been born again.

These are staggering truths and should be a source of eternal rejoicing to all who have reaped the incredible benefits of God’s reality. I urge every one of us to stop looking through the iron bars of empiricism; to turn around and see the open door of faith and walk through it and fill your lives with God’s joy, peace, and rejoicing!