Reality Is Always Your Friend

Why is reality your friend? Because the meaning of reality is “the way things really are.” If for any reason you are out of touch with reality in any area of your life, you are undoubtedly subject to a diminished quality of life, to say the least. In the Bible, the Greek word translated “truth” basically means “reality.” Because knowing the truth (reality) makes you free, which is why it is important to GET REAL and STAY REAL.

These are strange times indeed within human society. The current trend within society is “wokeness,” and this should be a blessing to any spiritual man or woman. After all, awakening is a virtue. Society is served by people being aware and well informed. It is served by people being actively attentive to and responsive to important societal issues. But this is not the case, because the woke movement is not what people think it is. It is not wokeness at all. Instead, it is a human society that has fallen into yet another pothole of both self-conceit and foolishness.

What used to be a social movement fueled by empathy, compassion, the desire to make a positive change, and used to be a social movement that successfully exposed the dark reality of injustice and backward thinking, has now surrendered to a politically woke social ideology that is flirting with authoritarianism and wearing a mask of virtue.

Make no mistake, the current “wokeness” trend is not a genuine awakening. It does not reflect genuine awareness or even intelligence, and it is often marked by false concern. If a society was genuinely “woke”, that would be a good thing, but the general direction of change that you are seeing within society today is actually a false wokeness. It is a gaslight. It is something disguised as the opposite of what it is. It is unconsciousness disguised as consciousness. It is virtue signaling disguised as concern for others. It is immorality disguised as morality. It is prejudice disguised as social justice. It is an assault against health disguised as measures that are pro-health. It is racism disguised as anti-racism. It is a backwards step disguised as forward movement.

The Word of God tells us the way things really are. As we see our country, and our world, growing ever more spiritually dark, it is vital that we have a firm grasp on the big picture provided for us by Scripture. Even as it was when Paul wrote late in life to Timothy, many demonically inspired philosophies were competing with the truth of God’s Word. A great example of this is that as soon as Satan knew the “Sacred Secret” revealed in Ephesians, he began to concoct contradictory ideas, such as: “…the resurrection is past already…” (2 Tim. 2:18) and “…the day of Christ [the Lord] is at hand…” (2 Thess. 2:2), variations of which are still alive and well today. For nearly 2000 years there has been no shortage of mind-altering, heart-rending, and now gender-bending lies about that which is true (real). The non-sense that has been taught regarding what is actually true has become devoid of reality.

Even today within the Church, we have such philosophies as “Dominion Theology,” “Kingdom Now Theology,” “Liberation Theology,” and “Reconstructionism,” each of which basically claims that the Christian Church will dominate the systems of this world, thus prevailing on earth, and in essence, making it safe for Jesus to return. How’s that working? Does it look to you as if the Christian Church is making much of a dent in any worldly system? On the contrary, the sad truth is that in countless churches and Christian groups they have embraced worldly views over godly views. Far too often it is hard to tell Christians from non-Christians because their words and deeds are so similar.

Proponents of the above concept do not believe that the Lord Jesus will come to take the Church out of this world, and are chief among those who dismiss the administrational view of Scripture (also known as “Dispensationalism”) as an “escapist” mentality on the part of those afraid to stand up and fight for the Lord. On the contrary, knowing the truth that the Lord will come for us prior to the revealing of the Anti-Christ and the “wrath to come” should motivate us to go all out and fight, living each day as if it were our last. Knowing that God is our true hope, it is He that will keep us strong to the end so that we will be free from all blame on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns. (1 Thess. 4:16 and 1 Cor. 1:8).

Christians who live without the hope of the “Rapture” are the ones who will become discouraged when they do not see the Church prevailing and who will give up the fight much sooner than those of us who know that the Lord Jesus Christ is coming to “rescue us from the present evil age” (Gal. 1:4). The world will continue to get darker and darker, but we who recognize the reality of what the Word says are more motivated to meet aggression with aggression and thus build mental toughness in the spiritual battle. The following verses in Timothy give a clear understanding on this matter:

2 Timothy 1:8
“So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God.”

2 Timothy 3:1–5
“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God – having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.”

2 Timothy 3:12 and 13
“In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”

2 Timothy 4:1–5
“In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage – with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.”

We know from the Word that eventually Satan will succeed in bringing to pass a one-world government, and that we will be gathered together prior to that, but the Word does not tell us how bad it will get before the Lord comes for us. Since God responds to people’s choices, maybe if enough Christians learn the Word, and live it boldly so that people hear it and believe it, we can hold off evil for a while allowing more people to hear the truth, which we know is what God wants. Consider the following verses:

1 Timothy 2:3 and 4
“This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”

2 Peter 3:9
“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

In closing, the heart of the matter is this – truth is that which agrees with reality. Period! God’s Word is Truth – it is absolute, objective, coherent, universal, exclusive, and permanently valid. So, if you’re searching for Truth, let “REAL-ity” be your friend.

God bless you richly,