Borrowing a thought from C.S. Lewis found in his excellent work on “The Problem With Pain”, I ponder how is it that we love God? How do we declare our love? How is our love generated and transmitted to Him? Lewis says “To love Him we must know Him”. It might seem a bit obvious but my personal experience is that many people who claim to worship him, do not have the kind of intimacy which would indicate they are any more personally familiar with God than they are with the quarterback of their favorite football team or their favorite movie star. Certainly they can admire, imitate, idolize and even esteem Him highly before others, but where is the knowing that reveals love?
Lewis continues, “And if we know Him, we shall in fact fall on our faces. If we do not, that only shows that what we are trying to love is not yet God—though it may be the nearest approximation to God which our thought and fantasy can attain.” I repeat for emphasis, “If we do not…is not yet God”.
Even those who do not have an intimate relationship with Him acknowledge He is. Yet we find ourselves attempting to stalk Him and seek favor of Him when we do not understand what His favor is. Far too often we hear traumatized people crying out in anguish “Where was God in this tragedy?” They are standing right next to the ones thanking God for His protection and provision even though they too have lost all worldly possessions and perhaps loved ones as well.
In life’s circumstances, it is usually easy to separate fantasy from reality. We may wish that our reality was a little closer to our fantasy but we also understand that might not be best for us. Fantasy by definition is not real, not truth, not worth the time and effort it takes to endure. Fantasy wastes the time you could have been spending in improving your reality. God is the creator of all which is real.
God doesn’t do fantasy. For those who have never heard the voice of God, never felt the touch of His love, never experienced the miraculous protection of His divine hand, they can only fantasize about what others know as reality. Making practical applications of God’s love in a real world context can only happen when there is a factual, actual, real relationship.
In most churches there are a small number of Pastors and Preachers. They are admired and disdained to differing degrees by the folks they minister to. People have preferences. It’s kind of like the old Pease Porridge nursery rhyme. We like it the way we like it. And sometimes that leads to fantasy. We often hear the complaint that life is not fair.
My reply is to separate reality from fantasy. Fair is a place with Ferris wheels and cotton candy and where you throw softballs at kewpie dolls; life is not fair. But, life is real. At times it is real hard. Wishing something to be different is fantasy. Doing something to make things different is reality. Reality is a two way street. Things happen which affect you, and then you respond.
Sometimes we will say “I can’t believe that just happened”. The truth is we know it happened and are surprised to find it in our reality rather than our fantasy. So let me ask you three questions, you respond “reality or fantasy”. One: The Holy Bible is the complete inspired Word of God comprising all truth He knows man needs to have a right relationship with Him. Two: A government described as of the people, by the people and for the people will always do what is best for the people it governs. Three: you are a living breathing person in a physical body that will die someday. Fantasy or reality? How did you Score them? They may all be fantasy in your mind. However, IF God is real and IF He loves you and desires a relationship with you, then surely He would make it real and available in such a way that would cause you to consider moving it from your fantasy list.
The only place in the entire earth where you will find all that is real and true about God is in His Holy Bible. What you know about Him, how deeply you love Him, how much of you He possesses ultimately relates to how much of His Word, The Bible, is in you. Did Jesus die on the cross to be your substitute sacrifice? Did God the Father raise Him from the grave three days later? Can you really know Him personally, intimately and be totally forgiven from all you sin just by accepting Him and asking forgiveness? The Bible declares it to be true. Yes, that is reality. Reading the Bible will help you to know about God and His plan for all men. Believing the Bible will bring you to the place of separating fantasy and reality. Acting upon the scriptures by accepting His truth allows you to love Him back, for He first loved you.
Fantasy says I want to love God like others have and if I imagine it to be so, then I am loving what and who I want God to be for me. Yet if I am falling on my face before others to demonstrate how great my love is, I have not yet learned who He is. When I fall on my face before Him when No one is watching, then I am closer to His reality. Fantasy says I can conjure up the god I wish to worship. Reality says I must know the God who is real so I may love Him. I will love Him long before I know much about Him. I will love Him in His very presence long before I understand how to be still and KNOW He is God. I will love Him whether I am physically healed by Him or not. I will love Him because He first loved me and still loves me. I will love Him long before I learn of His daily cleansing and the refreshing the filling of His Spirit brings.
I know God is real. He is as real as the soul which is me. My soul is His. He claimed me for His own. After years of denial and braggadocios assertion that I was my own god, He gently and sweetly wooed me to knowing Him as my Savior and Lord. I knew He was real and without Him I was really messed up. It used to be that my goal in life was to someday make it to heaven. My goal is no longer to go to heaven. I am already assured that I am going there because I am His child. My goal is to know Him more and more each day. My goal is to be pleasing to the one who loves me more than I love my self. It is so very, very basic. Jesus loves me this I know, For the Bible tells me so. I fall down at His feet and cry Holy! Holy is the Lamb of God. Then I lift up my voice and proclaim that I love Him and I know Him and I love Him.