Do you believe that your perception of truth is in alignment with God’s? Our perception of reality is generally based on our experience in life. God’s reality is not based on our perception of who he is and what is real. He alone is truth.
How does our perception of reality affect how we see God? How are we able to know the truth when our “reality” has been distorted by our experiences in life? We don’t have to go through abuse in order to have our perception of the truth totally wrong. Any time we do not believe the Bible, and our thoughts do not line up with it, then our perception of reality is not right.
The dictionary definition of perception is the ability to see, hear, or become aware of something through the senses. “The normal limits to human perception”. There are limits in our human ability to know the truth. Jeremiah 17:9 says: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”
This should tell us that our thoughts are not to be trusted. The devil wants to put a veil between us and the truth of God’s Word. The devil will do whatever he can to make us believe his lies. He wants us to believe we have no value and cannot be loved or that we will never be good enough. His list of lies goes on and on.
The New Testament is based on the Cross of Calvary. Jesus was beaten, tortured, crucified and took the punishment for our sins. He did all that for us, for you and me. He did it because he loves us. He has a love that is faithful and pure. He doesn’t love our sins, but he loves us and wants all to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
We have to see and know the truth. We have to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus, meaning that we have to see past the veil of lies the enemy has in front of us. We have to live as His Word tells us. We have to repent of our sins and be baptized. We can’t live as the rest of the world, or otherwise we have not truly repented of our sins. Once we have done that, we have to line our thoughts up with the Bible. If the Bible says God loves us, then we cannot allow Satan to tell us that we are unworthy.
For years, I believed that nobody could ever love me. Those who abused me, told me I had no value or worth and that I wasn’t worth loving. Even after I started living for Jesus, I could not believe He would want to love me. Because I was told by those who abused me that my perception of reality wasn’t right, I struggled to trust that God’s reality was real.
What helped me to believe was when I took a trip to the Cross. Not an actual trip, but one in my mind. As I closed my eyes and envisioned the hill leading up to the Cross, I saw Jesus standing at the bottom of the hill, holding His hand out to me. I saw myself taking His hand, and we walked up that hill. At the foot of the Cross, I kneeled down and asked God to forgive me for my sins. I cried out to Him for His forgiveness, and I allowed His grace and mercy and love to cover me.
Now, I have to disagree with the lies Satan tries to tell me. When I feel unworthy, I tell the devil he is a liar, and that Jesus died on that Cross for me. He went through all that for me. That tells me that I am loved. When the devil tries to tell me that God doesn’t hear my prayers, I tell him that he is a liar. The Bible is God’s Word. It is truth. It is reality. So, as I stand in faith, believing God’s Word, I wait for the answers to my prayers. Sometimes they come instantly, sometimes I must wait. Sometimes He tells me no, because He has something better for me.
The truth, the reality of our world, lies in the Word of God. If our thoughts don’t line up with the Bible, then our perception is twisted, distorted, and flat out wrong. God has enabled me to see past my perception of reality so that I can see His truth and see Him. He helped me throw away the garbage that distracted me and had so easily deceived me.
God’s Word not only talks about miracles, signs and wonders, but persecution, trials and a fiery furnace. It talks about burning off the dross. According to the Holman Bible Dictionary the definition of dross; Either the refuse from impure metal which is separated by a process of smelting (Proverbs 25:4; Proverbs 26:23) or else the base (impure) metal before the smelting process. Dross is a symbol of impurity. The wicked are pictured as dross (Proverbs 25:4; Psalm 119:119) that renders the whole of society impure. Isaiah 1:25 “And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin:”
Several years ago, God told me to take a deep breath and that He was going to “take me under”. The wounds from my past were still open and bleeding. I wondered why He would take me through the fire and why it seemed to hurt me just like those who had abused me.
He is God and He will not coddle our sins. Now that He has taken me under and put me through the fiery furnace and purified me, I can see me being held in His arms, not out of desperation or fear that He could not or would not love me, but with my head resting against His chest, His arms around me, holding me, letting me rest in His truth, and letting His love permeate through my very being.
Now I can see past my perception of reality that was perverted and distorted and twisted by Satan. God’s love is pure and holy, not defiled or dirty. He died on the Cross for us, that He might destroy the works of the devil; to pay the penalty or our sin. His death brought about our redemption, our healing and so much more. What will it take for you to know the truth? Seek Him while He may be found. Read the Bible and believe, especially if your perception of reality doesn’t line up with God’s.
Our Perception of Reality
