I am not a photographer, but I know a few people who are. Many of them tell me that their passion for photography is fueled by their desire to capture the beauty of reality, and bring it into focus. A ‘picture’ from a camera is literally a snapshot of light. Sometimes a camera is needed to bring this reality into focus, out of the shadows. Shadows can have a tendency to distract us from reality.
Jesus Christ is true reality. Everything else is simply a shadow. These are His words, not mine. Consider this ‘bombshell’ of a statement that Jesus made about Himself.
…I am the way, the truth, and the life…(John 14:6, NASB)
This might seem like a harmless religious statement. We see the word ‘truth’, and many of us automatically think of words like ‘fact’, or ‘law’. Did you know, however, that the same word that is translated ‘truth’ can also be translated as ‘reality’?
That puts things into perspective a bit for me. Jesus Christ didn’t just say that He is a simple ‘fact’, He said that He was *reality* itself!
Wow.
This man is certainly not lacking in fortitude and self-confidence. He knows who He is. The descriptive word choice that He used to describe Himself (reality) is simply breathtaking.
Most of the world has been deceived into thinking that the shadow world is reality. It is not. It is simply a shadow. He (Christ) is ultimate reality. When we take our ‘cameras’, capture an image of light, and peer into this new reality, we will find that the distractions that are found in the shadow world dissipate. The temporary distractions that have kept us separate from one another in relationships, and blind to the reality of light (Christ), simply come to an end.
In the shadow world, space and time keep us separate from one another, but ‘IN’ reality (Christ), they are overcome by the limitless parameters of the Spirit.
In the shadow world, our security is tied to all that can be shaken (the world & its systems), but ‘IN’ reality (Christ), we stand secure.
In the shadow world, hierarchy, fear, & accusations, keep us distant from one another, but ‘IN’ reality (Christ), we are known only by His righteous identity.
There is coming an age when the reality of light (Christ) will completely overtake the shadow world. The good news, however, is we don’t actually have to wait until that day arrives in space & time to start living in this new reality. Thankfully, we have been given supernatural ‘cameras’ that enable us to capture images of light from this new reality even while we are still functioning in the ‘shadow world’. The light (reality) is literally breaking into the shadows and is making all things new. We now have the ability to see the light, and live from the life that comes from this light. We can now take out our ‘cameras’ and start clicking away!
I could go on and on about this, but Brooke Fraser has a beautiful song / video about this that explains it so much better than I can. Please take a few minutes to watch this video.
(If you are reading this post from your email inbox, you will need to click the post title and go to the blog itself to view the video)
In Him,
Jamal Jivanjee
perfect bro, we are found ‘in’ Him, and in this ‘inness’ we are unshakable. thanks for this very encouraging message of love.
My pleasure Jim.
Brother … I have been waiting for you to write this. The Lord said you were writing something yesterday. I’ve been waiting!
Thank you for sharing Christ with your words. Christ IS the I AM among us … He is the song, He is the reality and the substance, He has not come to listen or to take sides, He has come to take over. That which is visible in reality is Christ alone … and only those things that are in Christ are visible.
Speak Christ with authority and boldness. He is reality.
Beautiful, brother … thanks for sharing!
That’s awesome brother!
Beautiful, Beautiful!! Isn’t He amazing, just breathtaking.
He truly is sister. I’m so grateful that He has adequately supplied us with incredible ‘cameras’ to capture this breathtaking reality.
I can only quote what Stephen Mayer said, “He has not come to take sides , He has come to take over. That which is visible in reality is Christ alone and only those things that are in Christ are visible. I will add, all other things will not be able to stand the reality of Christ. Thank God the shaking is taking place now and exposing all that is not Christ. We need to be overjoyed about that.
Amen Mary. Great to hear from you. Yes, even though His shaking is unnerving at times, it is a cause for rejoicing. Only what is of Christ will eventually remain. Thank God!
Thanks for the encouragement brother!
Shane,
I’m so glad that the Lord has called you into photography!
Jamal,
Before there was ever a before, there existed a mysterious and unspoken secret of the ages, which Father hid in the Breath of His Word. Father created the fullness of time, space and matter through, for and in His Son. By the Holy Spirit of Truth/Reality, He has revealed Himself in us and to us, that we may know Him as He Is. To know Him is Life, and the Life is the Reality whom we live; all else is fading away. It is through His church that we have the Wisdom of God, the mind of Christ, through and in the one another, us. And, the day is coming when the measure of His glory comes to completion by His manifestation. The Life-giving Spirit is the only existence, the only Life, the only Reality in the immeasurable glory that is in the fullness of God. When the travailing womb of exhausted time expands to the limit of its measure in Christ, we, together, will be in the fullness of His glory. He is the Life, the Reality; it has always been Him, always — the one who Was, Is, and Is Coming. He makes all things new with Himself, a new race is born again, born of Spirit. And through the eyes of the Spirit of God in us, we see the Unseen, Reality Himself as He Is — the mysterious and unspoken secret of the ages whom He has revealed in the Breath of his Word.
So very beautiful Kat. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks Jamal for the reminder! Christ is the true reality, and as you pointed out, the good news is we don’t have to wait until then ,to start living in this new reality. The verse in the song that says “in the shadows is easier to stay” reminds me of the Israelites wanting to go back to the onions and leeks of Egypt, and than latter not wanting to leave the comfort of Babylon. Christ the reality, the promised land, “the land that I’ve never seen”,is entered only by faith, “the supernatural cameras” given. For we walk in this land, in this new reality, by faith and not by sight. This is an inward reality not an outward one.
When I go back in my journey and remember the times “when I heard rumors of this reality” and slowly started to awake day by day, what a joy, there is absolutely nothing like it. And I’m sure tomorrow as I awake more, I’ll go back and remember this day, and on and on in this journey. For as Apostle Paul said, now we see in a mirror dimly, now I know in part, but then will see face to face and know as I am known.
We awake at different times and see progressively, but oh how we long for that ones, for that day when we will all see as one, no distractions of shadows. And that day is coming for the Lord said “Yet once more I shake not only the earth but also heaven, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain” and than He will be all and in all.
Amen Marsela, so very well said. Thank you for reading and sharing:)
Good stuff Jamal!
Through your post I’m hearing “…on earth, as it is in heaven”.
Amen, reality on earth!