In the Shadows
“What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.”
Today’s Text: 1 Corinthians 2:10-16 (Living Life Daily Devotional)
There are spiritual realities, and then there are “realities” that are of the world. The spiritual realities are the realities. “Realities” of the world are just “shadows” of the spiritual realities.
I looked it up on Google AI and found out that the Greek philosopher Plato was the one who originally proposed that way of understanding the world.
We can see the “shadows,” but if we do not acknowledge that there is a reality causing the “shadows” and discern what that reality is, we will always find ourselves fumbling around in darkness.
People can live in the world of “shadows” and can navigate in that world perfectly fine. But if we do not recognize the reality and live in that reality, our lives, in the end, become meaningless, basically.
The “framework” or the “lens”, or whatever we want to call it, through which we can see the reality and navigate through it is the Word of God.
There are people, even Christians, who get no pleasure from reading and studying the word of God. Usually, it is pretty obvious who those people are. They try to navigate this world and their families and relationships and church life using human “compasses.” They trust the “spirit of the times” more than they trust God’s word, and they will call it “contextualization.” Of course, Christians who are like that would never say that, but we can see their attitude through their words and actions.
Usually, they want churches made up of people just like themselves. And their greatest joy is having people that they can play with, and they will think of that as Christian “love.”
For sure, it is a joy to have friendships with people who are like us, but does that ever cause the angels of heaven to rejoice (Luke 15:7, 10)?
Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17).
Jesus said, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10).
Jesus said,
“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that.”
— Luke 6:32-33
Those are the realities that we need to see in this “shadow” world.
Father, You are the Author of what is real and what is a “shadow.” In Your infinite wisdom, this world operates so that we might live and also come to know You. But especially, You have given us Your word. Impress upon our hearts the reality that is communicated through Your word, so that we might not walk in false “shadows” but live in Your reality. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
