Heart Tracks - Parallel Universe

     Lovers of science fiction will be familiar with stories about two universes or dimensions that exist side by side, but yet are invisible to each other.  Parallel universe's or dimensions.  Here's the thing:  It's not science fiction, for we live in just such a situation right now.  There is the dimension of that which we can see and touch, that we were born into and is the ground of our familiarity.  It's what the flesh is familiar and comfortable with.  It's the realm most would call "reality."  Then there is another dimension, unseen to the flesh, and so totally unfamiliar to it as well.  It can only be seen with the eyes of the Spirit, and understood with the mind of the Spirit.  It is very unreal to those who have made their home in the first dimension, and just like those science fiction stories, most of us are able to live out our lives totally unaware that it's there.  Jesus called this realm "the Kingdom," and said that all of those who were His were citizens of it, dwellers within it.  Yet, sadly, so many of the so-called citizens of that Kingdom live lives that seem just as unawares of that unseen realm as those who've never heard of it.

    I really like the way I saw Hebrews 12:2 rendered recently: "Looking off unto Jesus."  Another translation reads, "Fixing our eyes on Jesus," yet the only way we can fix our eyes on Him, is to take our eyes off of everything else that is not Him.  That means letting go of, even renouncing all those things that seem so real in order to behold Him who can seem so unreal to eyes that have seen so little, if anything, of Him.  Only by looking off of all things, people, memories, interests, desires, that have blinded us to Him, will we really see Him, behold Him, and lay hold of Him.  To behold Him is to lay hold of Him.  We will never see that parallel universe or dimension as long as cannot take our eyes off of the glitter and tinsel that seems to shine so brightly in our "reality."  As His Word says, that light we think we have, the glitter and tinsel, is after all, nothing more than darkness, and keeps us from seeing His light in the midst of it.  So, this present dimension, reality, which is passing away, keeps us blinded to the true reality of His Kingdom which is eternal and neverending.  We're comfortable in a realm where we should be most uncomfortable, and extremely uncomfortable, as well as ignorant, of the realm for which we were created. 
    I was in a prayer group yesterday in which the songleader sang a chorus that went "Lord, set us free so that we may worship Thee."  There is so much made of fellowships having worship services in which there is "freedom."  For us, that seems to mean freedom to raise our hands, clap, even dance.  Many demand that we have such freedom in worship, yet such freedom will never really be, no matter how much we wave, clap, or dance, until we are truly free in our spirits wherever we are.  For too many, freedom in worship starts at 11am and ends at noon.  After that, we go back to living in our familiar universe, if indeed we ever really left it in the first place.  We'll never be free until the scales placed over our eyes by this passing dimension fall of so we may see that universe that has always been there, yet unseen, and unknown to too many of us.

   What, in our lives, is blinding us to that parallel universe?  What is it that we must "look off" of before we can see Jesus?  Which dimension offers you your true comfort and security?  Which one is our real reality?

Blessings,

Pastor O