Optical Illusions 

I enjoy looking at optical illusions. You know the sort of thing, you stare at it for a while, and suddenly you see something completely different from what you thought you were seeing. Once seen, you can seldom "un-see" what you didn't think was there. Such optical trickery seldom serves any real purpose, other than to mess with you brain.

When the great English architect Sir Christopher Wren designed the interior of Windsor Town Hall, in London in 1689, he built a ceiling supported by pillars. After city fathers had inspected the finished building, they decided the ceiling would not stay up and ordered Wren to put in some more pillars. 

Wren didn't think the ceiling needed any more support, so he pulled a fast one. He added four pillars that did not do anything -- they don't even reach the ceiling. The optical illusion fooled the municipal authorities, and today the four sham pillars are a tourist attraction.

Often-times we believers suffer from a kind of spiritual optical illusion, we tend to see things as they appear to be, not as they actually are. This is not a new phenomena for God's people. Remember the Hebrew slaves fleeing Egypt. Even after seeing the mighty hand of their Redeemer humble the pharaoh, rendering him and his priests powerless, they still, as they stood before the Red Sea, simply could not believe that God could open a way for them to escape the approaching Egyptian Army, and annihilation.

It took, what was certainly one of the greatest miracles recorded in the Bible, to galvanize the now free slaves to finally accept that what they were seeing was in fact reality. Just a short time later after this miraculous delivery, while Moses was off doing a bit of mountain climbing, communing with Yahweh, the people again began to see things, not as they were, but rather falling for an epic optical illusion, which culminated in debauchery and idol worship. Read the story here. 


1400 years later, the disciples were little different. They saw Jesus, spent 3 years in very close, almost daily, contact with Him, but they did not see Jesus as He truly was. He stated His ministry clearly to His followers, yet when He surrendered to the authorities they were stunned, confused, frightened. For weeks afterward they hid as broken men and women, even refusing to believe Mary when she reported whom she had  met at the tomb. 

The men, that Jesus had chosen, simply continued to believe the optical illusion that they  had created. I wonder if any of us would have acted differently. 


We moderns still get confused by observed reality, and how things really are. We are so often fooled by appearances. We can so easily sit in our pews, looking out at the world, pointing fingers at all the sinners outside the doors of our churches and halls, praying that those sinners would come to us to be "saved". We can so often righteously thank God that we are not like them, quietly judging the sin around us, seeing what our "church" vision has trained us to see.  It's easy to be like the disciples on the road to Emmaus...When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. Luke 24:30-31 (NIV)

We can very easily fall into "self-made" illusions when we willfully lie to ourselves. What do I mean? In spite of all evidence to the contrary, we defend ourselves against reality, often doing so in the name of God. We deny truth in favor of our opinion, often saying "God told me" or "God showed me". I have known people who upon starting a new job happily say "God opened the door for me", and yet six months later they are starting another job, defending the rapid change by saying that their previous God given job wasn't really them.

What is real?

I have known other people who have made "life-changing" decisions to shift towns, countries even, when all the evidence and counsel from others was against the move. Again their defense is usually"God told me"

I don't mean to imply that every "God told me" is fallacious. God does speak hope into our spirits and we should believe what He says, but when the majority of our life is based upon "God told me" rather than a more Biblical approach of "It is written," something is wrong.


Dr. Jerome Frank was a psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins University Medical School. He wrote about our "assumptive world." What he meant is that all of us make assumptions about life, about God, about ourselves, about others, about the way things are. He went on to argue that when our assumptions are true to reality, we live relatively happy, well-adjusted lives. But when our assumptions are distant from reality, we become confused and angry and disillusioned.

I don't find many people in Scripture running to God trying to find His will for the minutiae of life. What I do find is this..... Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Philippians 4:8 KJV

If we do that, then surely He will guide us.



From God's Word
But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”  1 Peter 1:15-16 NIV