At the very end of nothing, or as the ancient poets penned, “In the beginning, God created” and something real began to take shape. For the first time, the nothingness was complete and new spirit formed the first water and landscapes. This new beginning was spoken into existence by a God who was and is the ultimate reality. A reality who could not help but create things out of joy and love. He was preparing a place for His greatest creation to follow… people. From this early reality of nothing, appeared a real God who spoke into existence something genuine. Something real.
It was in this formative moment, which could have lasted centuries, that this real God was preparing something for something else. It appears that this God desires to be a provider for what He creates. As the poem goes, we, the image bearers of this creator, set foot on the untrodden ground of a garden called Eden and begin to live as God intended. Everything was good and we, well… the creator said we were “very” good.
The reality of heaven speaking through time and space filtering into a moment of divine “somethingness”. Life was real. The garden… real. God, real. Eden was as real as heaven. The animals, the fruit, the air, oceans, mountains and valleys… all real. All was tangible and all was divine. The created things could now be sensed by other created things. With the creation came the existence of awareness, knowledge, emotion, and a sense of what is physical.
The idea of something being an illusion was not introduced until the third chapter of this great poem. Until then, complete honesty was reality. Nothing was hidden. Nothing that was created was ever intended to be hidden.
Strange that the first thing to be hidden was humanity. Illusion was introduced and put a new twist on reality. So much of a twist that the most treasured of all creations received the most damaging of blows. The Serpent introduced the greatest of all illusions to date. This same illusion has helped on the one hand to pen some of the greatest love songs, on the other, it started wars. This illusion continues to flow out from the garden and into humanity.
Now immortality wasn’t an illusion in the beginning. You could say immortality was jusy something to be understood. After the serpent’s lie, immortality became illusion. Immortality was now unreachable. What was once real had become unreal. The serpent took what was tangible and made it illusion. Worship of the creator was replaced with worship of the created. God himself had become to much to be real for humanity. For the first time, the Creator wasn’t the only one creating worlds to live in. One of the creations created something powerful enough to entice humanity a different direction than they were intended to move. A new invitation was in the air. Just like the Garden peace, everyone is invited to this new world. The serpent’s inviation is simple. “You are invited to live in a world that doesn’t exist… as somebody you are not.
First, what about this world that doesn’t exist? This illusion is simple. It’s like living with blinders on. Dishonest living. Like geting dirty, yet never coming clean. But more important, this illusion we are tempted should take us back to the simple truths of the Garden. The illusion says that God is not real or tangible at all. Swallowing this temptation is like believing that you are miserable all the days of your life while praying Jesus would come back to end it all. This illusion teaches that heaven is some far off place, not here and now. In other words, “Anti-Garden”.
Second, to live as somebody you are not, is pretty much self explanitory. It is the invitation to never look at a mirror, and if you do, never look too deep. Never examine your life. Just do the best you can to stay out of trouble until the day you die. It is the drive to humbly approach death safely. The result is often very obvious in conversations. Listen closely next time you or someone you are talking to says, “That’s just the way I am”. Stepping fully into this invitation disables us from allowing ourselves to live as forgiven people. Instead we feel the need for control to such an extent that we can’t receive a free gift without feeling obligated. In other words, you cannot allow grace to rule over your life.
Finally, the devil adds a stunt best described from a line by a character (Verbal Kemp) played by Kevin Spacey, in a scene from a movie I like called Usuall Suspects, when he says, “The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he didn’t exist.” Just another example of the replacement of reality with a lie.
Now… how do we step out of the illusion, and begin the journey back to when all was real? I believe this begins with a simple question, “Is Jesus enough?” What Would your life look like if you had nothing to hide? What if you could stop hidding? What if you knew who you were in the sense the same way God knows you? What if you were to “Lose your Illusion” and live knowing that God is the ultimate reality and that His Son Jesus was enough?
We have a choice I believe. Run with the illusion, which is safe and superficial, or step into living simply as honest as possible, which is chaotic and meaningful. This life of faith is scary and exciting at the same time. He doesn’t promise an easy journey, just a perect destination. Like the Beaver speaking of Aslan in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, “Is he safe. Oh no, Aslan’s not safe, but he is good.”
