Real


Act 19:8  Paul then went straight to the meeting place. He had the run of the 

	place for three months, doing his best to make the things of the kingdom 	

	of God real and convincing to them. 

Act 19:9  But then resistance began to form as some of them began spreading evil 

	rumors through the congregation about the Christian way of life. So Paul 

	left, taking the disciples with him, and set up shop in the school of 

	Tyrannus, holding class there daily. 


	There is a quality in many theatres and in the production of movies today 

that makes you almost feel like you're really there, right in the middle of the 

story and the experience of the moment. A gigantic boulder is nearly overtaking 

you, you're flying through space in combat for the salvation of an empire, 

bullets are whizzing past you as you storm the beach in Normandy, and you feel 

and hear the intense emotion of relationships formed and violated. There is 

another life, another place, and another realm that you are brought into for a 

few minutes and allowed to experience. While there may be some understanding 

gained about what is portrayed in the movie, there is, however, no true 

knowledge of or identification with the reality of the time or place. It may be 

touched, but it will never be owned in a way other than fantasy. For each 

person, that touching will also be different from anyone else's because of the 

life that has already been experienced by each one in reality. 


	Traveling to other cultures in the world also brings a taste of another 

life and an emersion into another realm from that which has been lived thus far. 

Sights, sounds, smells surround you with a completely different way of living 

and a different perspective on life in the world. Like the movies, though, there 

is an inability to really understand and completely identify with foreign people 

and their ways. Until there is a giving up of what has been known as "home" and 

a studying of the ways and language of the different culture, it will always be 

that you are alien to a true understanding of the reality of life there. Until 

there is a wearing of the garments, living in the houses, eating the food, 

speaking the language, and working the work of that culture, there may be an 

ability to go on an on about it, but there will never be a true understanding of 

what it's like to be a native and a citizen of that place. Like the movie, it 

will remain in the realm of fantasy and conjecture until experienced and lived 

in reality. 


	From the beginning of time there has been, for every living person, the 

possibility of exposure to this foreign culture, this completely different way 

of living in the presence of our Creator. It has been possible to observe this 

life in those who live there, and awesome demonstrations of His goodness and 

power have drawn people with interest to touch different presentations of it. As 

different perspectives have been formed, an endless number of locations have 

been constructed where each particular view may be observed and touched. There 

have been many decisions to actually travel to the place where His glory dwells 

and be immersed in the sights and sounds of life there. Many have become quite 

adept at describing and conveying this way of life and producing a 

representation of it that would be most attractive and inviting. 


	There has been a truth, though, that has been carried through all of human 

existence. It is that only those who have given up altogether the ways of their 

old country and their old ways have actually been able to know the reality of 

what it means to be a citizen and a native of that place. It has not been enough 

for anyone to just go once or twice a week and observe a presentation of that 

life. It hasn't been enough to even take all the comforts of home and relocate 

to that place. All who have attempted to know life in His presence by these 

methods may have developed quite an ability to postulate and carry on about what 

they have observed there. But only those who have completely separated 

themselves from the old comforts and embraced, without reservation, every aspect 

of this new culture have known the progressive reality of this new life in Him. 

As long as there has been a hold on the old, there has been a frustration and 

discouragement with the experience, as it has never actually been real. 


	Though there may have been a few exposures to life in the presence of the 

Lord, some legitimate and some a bit tweaked, and though there might be 

wondering about whether or not this way of life really exists, there is no way 

to really identify with it and know its reality as a native citizen until there 

is a wearing of the garments, living in the houses, eating the food, speaking 

the language, and working the work of that culture. Until there is never a 

moment when His presence is not known and honored, until there is an affect upon 

every moment and movement by His glory, there will never be a true knowledge of 

its reality. Opinions may be formed and positions may be taken, but the true joy 

and the true abundance of this place will never be fully known until nothing 

from that old life displaces the passion for and commitment to life in Him. 

Observation of what someone else has experienced and a few excursions to the 

place of His glory will never qualify for knowledge of His life. Only living 

moment by moment in the realm of love through no other method but personal 

relationship with Him will yield an understanding of what is "real" in Him. 


Act 17:27  so we could seek after God, and not just grope around in the dark but 

	actually find him. He doesn't play hide-and-seek with us. He's not remote; 

	he's near. 

Act 17:28  We live and move in him, can't get away from him! One of your poets 

	said it well: 'We're the God-created.' 




09/13/04