A seamless virtual reality experience is the reason a video gamer will invest in a pair of RIFT goggles. But guess what? If you “game” with God, there will be shifts in your reality and even reversals, but no Rift goggles will be used to accomplish the changes.
The devil is big on getting us to believe in fake worlds, which include fake reversals. The siren calls of, “I-can-be-(or plan, or make, or control) just-as good, or even better than God (can be, or plan, or make, or control)” is the primary motivational pressure applied by The Tempter. Why should the Devil alter his tried and true method of sidetracking mankind? It is easy to tempt men and women to leave God out of the equation and use their own methods to “fix” or escape their problems.
We readily put on spiritual RIFT goggles and make believe our way through our life instead of falling on our goggle-less faces before the ONLY ONE who can truly reverse the odds.
The Bible is full of genuine life reality reversals. Moving against opposing circumstances seems to be one of God’s favorite tactics. His table turning strategy culminates into the biggest reversal of all time—the death of His son in place of our own need to die for our sin. We will all still die and enter eternity, HOWEVER, because of Christ; we can die in complete confidence knowing that God is waiting to receive us on the other side. We get to “game” again, only it is not a game but the real deal.
OR…
We have other options. We can die a different way. Wearing our spiritual RIFT goggles, we can die determined to believe the false reality projected in front of our eyes. Our eye screen may be filled with the atheist idea that “there is no God,” or the erroneous concept that “God is okay with everybody and there is no hell or sin problem,” or our vision may be clouded with the completely flawed position “there are many roads to God.”
We can also die in a state of great fear and doubt. This type of death will not necessarily keep us from entering heaven, but these emotions will keep us trapped and worn down on earth. The RIFT goggles worn by the “fearful and doubting” in this case portray a subtly deceptive picture. The view on their eye screen indicates, “Yes, God IS REAL, but He IS NOT ABLE” (not strong enough, smart enough, and clever enough….) to take care of things, so I must work hard to take care of things myself.”
These “fearful and doubting” goggle wearers go by an alternate name. They are members of the LRHC (little red hen club.) They tend to believe Christ’s death is not completely adequate to cover men’s sins. Instead men must do penance (in addition to accepting Christ death) in order to be a candidate for heaven. Members of the LRHC also want sin to be placed into categories so that they know how much penance is required to counter a specific sin.
I know a lot about the LRHC, because I am a lifelong member. The idea that God will forgive me just because I ask Him to forgive me is fantastically unbelievable. Top that with the notion of how God can truly bring about change in a repentant heart—one that has previously and willfully practiced a specific evil—and you are likely to see my little hen brain slip into a faithless frenzy.
I DO want bad things to be reversed into good outcomes, but my problem with trust—believing that God is able to reverse a situation—keeps me anxious. Evil seems so pervasive and all-powerful. My RIFT goggles keep me focused on inability and disaster.
I can’t conceive of choosing to repeatedly rebel against God. On the other hand, I can’t understand how a person with a past of specific repeated rebellion can repent and be truly changed.
I believe my spiritual confusion calls for action….
I need to take off my OWN spiritual RIFT goggles, repent, and see!
My prayer is this….
God help me see only Your truth and Your true reversals, because…YOU ARE ABLE!
Heaven’s Force
The blind see
The lame walk
The deaf hear
The seas part
Water calms
Storms brew
Moses leads
Pharoh’s screw.
Nations fall
Captives rise
Shepherds lead
Regal dies
Bread splits
Fish too
Mouths eat
Manna dew
Reality changed
Altered course
Dead rise
Heaven’s force!