Real Realm

July 25

“Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.” I Corinthians 2:9,

It’s a difficult concept for man to grasp—God wants to bless us more than we want to be blessed. People in the Western world tend to look upon the material things of life—the things we can handle, own, enjoy; the influence we can exert over others; the ability to flex our muscle in the area of self-serving control over others that we have the power to wield—and count ourselves blessed if we operate in the realm of that kind of sway over our circumstances and over those around us.

But the LORD does not see things as we see them. As the prophet says in I Samuel 16:7, "…But God doesn’t “see as we see. Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.” When we interpret worldly possessions or achievement or influence as blessings from the Holy One, we may be totally or at least in part, in error about our interpretation of what we see.

One of our suffering brothers who appears to be powerless before a ruthless legal system, one of our impoverished compatriots in faith, one of our unknown fellow citizens in Christ’s Heavenly Kingdom may appear as a victim of an unholy system in the eyes of the world while wielding great spiritual power and possessing incalculable eternal treasure.

If the Lord looked upon outward appearances, Moses, a Prince of Egypt, reduced to shepherding his father-in-law’s flock on the remote side of a mountain would not have been selected to lead God’s people out of bondage in Egypt (see the Book of Exodus). If God looked upon outward attributes, the adolescent David would not have been selected above his warrior brothers as Israel’s next king. (See I Samuel 16:1-13.)

If the Holy One counted temporal wealth and power as eternal worth, Jesus would not have declined Satan’s offer to give Him the kingdoms of the earth if He would but bow down and worship him. (See Matthew 4:9.)

If God were impressed with earth’s trappings of power and wealth the men of power in high places would be princes of His Kingdom, but they are not. Some of the earth’s most influential people are spiritual dwarfs who are impoverished in the eyes of God.

So, what shall we be? People who pursue temporal gain at any cost? People who care nothing of character? People to whom honor is an antiquated virtue? People who use other people and things as expendable instruments of their own aggrandizement?

Or shall we see as Jesus sees and be willing to take up our cross and follow Him from the shadow of the cross into the real realm of true power and glory?