Get Real

The uneducated preacher summed it up with his assessment ‘Be what you is, ‘cuz if you ain’t what you is, then you is what you ain’t.’ Which is a very memorable way to say, don’t be a hypocrite. Hypocrisy is a fake presentation of ourselves usually because we are afraid of what others think about the real us. We hide the real us (the heart- scroll about half way down) with layers of facade. And if we are afraid to accept negative facts about ourselves and refuse to hear them, it is because we are cowards and menpleasers. (Col.3:22, Gal.1:10, 12) God hates hypocrisy with perfect hatred. (Job 8:13,13:16,20:5,36:13, Isa.10:6,33:14, Mt.6:2,5,16,15:7-8,22:18, Ch.23, Ja.3:17, 1 Pt.2:1) Hypocrites love their own vain glory above God’s glory. (Phil.2:3, Gal.5:26, 1 Jn.2:16) To be free from hypocrisy is to be sincere- 'the quality or state of being sincere : honesty of mind: freedom from hypocrisy. freedom from deceit, hypocrisy, or duplicity; honesty in intention or in communicating; earnestness.' God desires that we be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ, (Phil.1:10, 2 Cor.1:12, 1 Cor.1:8, Tit.2:7) with unfeigned love. (1 Pt.1:22, 1 Tim.1:5) The path to spiritual maturity is that! Trust God to show you otherwise. (Phil.3:15, Jam.1:4-8)

Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it. Jer.5:1

People today live off childish thinking and narcissism and do not accept responsibility as men. (1 Cor.13:11) They prefer to shut their eyes to reality as fear of life and fear of death subject them to bondage by taking refuge in lies and falsehoods. (Jn.8:32,36) Once they take this path, they rage against actual reality (like biology and logic) which stubbornly refuses to conform to their demands; like a 2-year-old having a tantrum. They hate God because they are not God and they love themselves. “Any kid who requires compulsion to get other kids to play with him is an unpopular kid, by definition. That’s part of the reason that identity has to be socially negotiated. And if you are setting up an identity that you have to compel me to accept that’s prima facie evidence... that the identity doesn’t work.” “That’s a good definition, if you have a well-defined subjective identity then other people will play along with you voluntarily.” (Jordan Peterson 1:28:53 here) So, when kids “negotiate an identity that other children want to be part of. That’s what makes them popular, that’s what gives them friends.” So, we develop a view of ourselves that conforms to the objective real world and the subjective view of ourselves tempered by our interaction with God others. For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. (Rom.12:3) For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. (Gal.6:3) The more sincere we are relative to others and the material world in accepting what we learn of ourselves is how real progress can be made in developing ourselves before God. In other words, be painstakingly honest and real with yourself about yourself before God. (Rom.1:9, 9:1, 1 Thes.2:5,10) Refuse lies even when they are the most comfortable thing to hear. (2 Tim.4:3-4) Our goal should be genuine transformation and integrity.

This of course can only be done in God’s light as our bent for self-deception is inexorable due to the presence of pride and sin in us, that is in our flesh and spirit. (2 Cor.7:1, Jam.4:1-6) We need God’s word to illuminate our motives and intentions. (Heb.4:12-13) We can’t even properly judge ourselves apart from the Spirit of God searching our hearts. (1 Cor.4:3-5, Psa. 139:23-4, Job 34:32) God puts us in chastening situations to manifest the things in our hearts that are unacceptable before him. (Heb.12:3-11; Deut.8:2-3) We can then correct ourselves in repentance and prayer, knowing with full persuasion that Christ’s blood washes us from all sin. (1 Jn.1:7,9,3:20, Prv.28:13) Some people have trouble receiving the forgiveness freely offered in Christ and feel like they need to appease God’s justice by their virtue signaling works and foolish self-flagellation. They won’t believe God when he says he is faithful and just to forgive and cleanse by faith in Christ’s blood. (Rom.3:24-8, 4:1-8)

So, what is real or what is truth, as Pilate rhetorically asked Christ? (Jn.18:38) Well, in our modern culture the only truth is that there is no truth. Which illustrates the walking self-contradictions people are today. As Christians and bound to the philosophy the bible provides we are dualists; that is, we believe in a physical and non-physical reality. This is what we experience likewise. We operate in the non-physical realities of logical and mathematical laws every day when we navigate ourselves through the physical world. Dualism cannot account for itself as Greg Bahnsen summarizes here.

The ways that we orient ourselves and understand ourselves is by constant interaction with immutable laws of logic, science and morality. We bring unchanging immaterial realities to bear upon the changing material world (e.g. have dominion over the earth, prayer). We realize our limitations and weaknesses in the process as well as our ability to enact some change. And since God is the lawgiver and sustainer of the objective real world, for us to understand it we must comply with his word about it. Reality is what God has decided and we must align ourselves with him and ‘think his thoughts after him’ to interact with reality and not with lies and delusion or propaganda. We are prone to believe lies and falsehoods because it is a lot easier on several fronts. Firstly because of laziness it is easier to believe things others tell us before adequate evidence and investigation. Superstition arises partly because of this. Secondly the truth could cause us pain or danger (or slight mocking from the culture- Mk.8:38) and we choose foolishly to not see it. But also, it is too embarrassing at times to admit what is actually true and real. (Isa.30:9-10) So, the simple and the fool both believe lies from their own pride and laziness. Fools arrogantly refuse to see contrary evidence and the simple are naïve and believe without enough evidence. (Prv.1:4, 22, 7:7, 8:5, 14:7,15, 15:14, 22:3, 1:7, 18:2, 23:9, Lk.24:25)

Our Christian pop culture has been infected with superstitious thinking and a desire for magical thinking. Partly because sound doctrine requires much study and labor. (1 Tim.4:13-16, 5:17-18, 2 Tim.2:15, Ecc.12:12, 2:21, 1:13) And partly because we like childish make-believe narratives in which we play the part of the hero. We pretend to be super Christians with hyper faith denying reality and facts and refusing to believe anything other than what we say. When the fact is God reveals His eternal power and Godhead through the uniformity of creation. (Rom.1:20) This is why the laws of physics are so exhaustively imposed upon the material world. And every action is relentlessly subject to causation with no respect of persons and unveering severity unless God himself does miraculously suspend them to answer prayer (and indeed God answers prayer). But our pop Christians refuse to believe evidence in the physical world claiming they are walking by faith not sight. The problem is faith comes by a revelation of God (Rom.10:17) which usually they don’t have because they are not denying themselves and laboring fervently in prayer. (Col.4:12, Rom.12:1-2, 15:30, Jam.5:16-18) They play make believe faith hero and when they say something once, maybe twice, it will happen and they deny all the evidence to the contrary. When it frequently doesn’t (or never does and they move on and never know), they blame other people’s unbelief. All their pretense does not convert their presumption into faith. It’s time to be real and sincere at this point and be filled with the knowledge of God’s will. (Col.1:9-10) We need with sincerity to map our faith in God’s rightly divided word with laws of logic and respecting God's created world, brutal honesty and diligence as we pursue His will.

Brutal honesty and truth regarding reality should be what we pursue. Doing hard things exposes our weakness. (2 Cor.1:8-10) Confronting hard truths exposes our ignorance. What are we actually afraid of? Losing a little sheen off our vain glory? Isn’t that better than losing celestial glory in the world without end? The flesh has been crucified so lay it aside and walk in the light of Christ’s resurrection. 

“To establish something is real, (imagine there’s a pattern there) you needed a set of qualitatively different measurement techniques all of which converged on analysis of the same pattern. It’s what your senses do, right? Because your senses provide five qualitative distinctive reports. And if they converge you presume, it’s like a definition of real, five converging reports using qualitatively distinct measurement processes constitutes reality.” (51:17 mark)