Escape Into Reality
Dr. Richard M. Robinson
"For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning" (2 Peter 2:20).
Because of the repetitive nature of most jobs, and the familiarity of most surroundings, and the predictability of most schedules, and the dissatisfaction of most desires, we live in a culture of fantasy thinking. Millions of Americans today engage in activities that allow them to temporarily forget their troubles, or their boredom, by escaping into fantasy. Many of these escape routes are legal and many are not. Some are respectable, and some are not. But all are deceptive and dangerous, and can even be deadly.
For example, taking drugs to experience a chemical high is to escape into a fantasy of emotional euphoria. But shooting or snorting into this nirvana quickly turns one into a poor, pitied, dysfunctional, desperate, sick drug addict. The same thing could be said of all the other addictions as well: alcoholism, pornography, gambling--all vices that become habit forming--are fun for a while. The escape into fantasy seems to work but it all comes with a price. And the price for escaping into fantasy is unfitness for returning to reality.
One of the qualifications for Christian discipleship from Jesus Christ is found in Luke chapter 9. In verse 61, a would-be follower approaches the Lord. "And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house." Jesus answers him in verse 62. “No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." The context teaches that any delay, especially for sentimental reasons, makes one indecisive. But these words also remind us of the vital importance of living in reality.
There's a call to heed and a work to do. There's a plow with your name on it—a real plow for a real work in a real place. Going home can turn farewells into fantasies, good-byes to relatives into get-a-ways from reality. Just one more meal, one more hug, one more night in my bed, one more escape into the comforts and delights of home. Jesus is not against enjoying rest and relaxation, but he is against secret longings for a former lifestyle once he has issued a call to a new life. Home can be a retreat after a hard day's work, or it can become an escape from a hard day's work.
Too much resting and too little working leads to fantasy discipleship. What is that? Unrealistic thinking about the demands of being a follower of Jesus Christ. Discipleship is for the real world, where real work is done by real followers. Discipleship without a plow and without a cross is pure fantasy. If you really want to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, you have to get real. To imagine that you can delay obedience and avoid hard work and fancy yourself a real disciple is to live in make-believe! Just calling yourself a disciple does not make it so. If you escape into excuse-making to avoid the demands of discipleship, you have escaped into fantasy. How's that? A Christian who makes an excuse from obedience fancies that it is accepted when it is not.
To expose this fantasy, Jesus gave the parable of the Great Supper in Luke chapter 14. The banquet host prepared a great supper and told his servant to go get the invited guests. The context shows that those guests had already accepted the wealthy man's invitation. But when the hour came, they changed their mind about attending. The reality was, it was an inconvenient time for the guests and they didn't want to go to the trouble of attending. They initially felt it was an honor to attend such a noble, wealthy, and respected man's banquet. However, in the end, it involved more than they were willing to give.
In the story, the wealthy host was furious, seeing right through all their excuses to the real reasons. The point is not that these invited guests really believed their own excuses, but that they thought the host would. Jesus’ point is that all excuse-making from accepting all his invitations and obeying all his commands is never acceptable. And when such an excuse-maker stands before God, the fantasy will be over. No "well done, thou good and faithful servant" will be spoken in their honor from the lips of the Master!
Don’t make excuses to get out of worshipping regularly, or from being a good steward of all that you possess, from daily praying and studying the Bible, as well as faithfully serving and witnessing for the Lord. You need to know that God doesn't believe a one of them! Don't escape into excuse-making—that’s a make-believe world. Only by strict obedience to your Lord can you stay grounded in reality.
The sad truth is that indulging in fantasy thinking in one's relationship with God trickles down to other relationships in life. Here are three in particular:
First and foremost, beware of a FANTASY SELF-IMAGE.
I came across a "tongue-in-cheek" piece of satire that nonetheless reveals a truth, namely, the tendency to describe yourself as you want to be not as you really are. Here are personal ad abbreviations placed by men and women. First, there's the wording of the ad--the fantasy of how a person views himself or herself; then, interpreted into reality, what the person is really like.
We begin with ads by females looking for men:
40-ish...48
Beautiful...Pathological liar
Emotionally Secure...Medicated
Fun...Annoying
Open-minded...Desperate
Outgoing...Loud
Romantic...Looks better by candlelight
Wants Soulmate...One step away from stalking
And ads by men seeking women:
40-ish...52 and looking for 25-year-old
Average looking...Unusual hair growth on ears, nose, and back
Educated...Will always treat you like an idiot
Fun...Good with a remote and a six-pack
Honest...Pathological liar
Mature...Until you get to know me
Physically fit...I spend a lot of time in front of mirror admiring myself
Stable...Occasional stalker, but never arrested
What do we learn from this? Dating might have nothing to do with reality! Believe it or not, there are people who are more into advertising a fantasy about themselves than the real facts. Galatians 6:3 is a dose of reality in this regard. "For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself." To think that you are more than you really are is to be delusional. In dating, it isn't "what you read is what you get," but "what you see is what you get."
Of course, the problem is much more serious than just dating. Today, people have a fantasy that they are good people who expect to be let into heaven when they die, even though they have broken the Ten Commandments. The reality is, what you do is what you are. No one can whitewash the reality of James 4:17, "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." And it only takes one sin to be a sinner. And it only takes one sin to be guilty and only one sin to be liable for the whole law. James 2:10 is a jolt back into reality when it says, "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." To think otherwise is just a self-induced fantasy that leads to the realities of judgment in hell.
Second, beware of a FANTASY CHURCH. You know what I mean—a church where everyone is always accepted, always trusted, always loved, always kind, always generous, always obedient. Where can you find such a church that is "always" like this? Where else, but in your dreams! Such a church has never existed, except in heaven, where everyone is finally perfect. On earth, the church is made up of imperfect saints, who try to be perfect, but are never perfectly perfect.
The Apostle Paul, who probably came the closest to Christian perfection, said this about himself in Romans 7:15, "For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I." And he goes as far as to say in verse 18, "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not." And to think that this man was called by God to be a planter and pastor of many churches!
Paul, the church planter/pastor was not himself perfect, but he was forgiven and learning. If you read the whole chapter, you'll see what he was learning. The agonizing reality was that he could not be sinless (v.24). But the exciting reality also was that, thanks to Jesus Christ, he could sin less and less (v.25). We never arrive at perfection in this life, but we can always be getting better and better, cleaner and cleaner, closer and closer to perfection. That is not a pie-in-the sky fantasy, but a rooted and grounded reality. And a church with people like that is the closest thing to heaven on earth.
Finally, beware of a FANTASY FAMILY. Homes, even Christian ones, have become fantasy factories. Each fantasy is usually at the beginning of a new experience: a new mate, a new job, a new child, and a new home, to name a few. But the reality rarely ever lives up to the fantasy.
Perhaps the Bible's greatest warning against this kind of delusional thinking is Psalm 127. It's only five verses long, but it leads to living in reality. Verse one is a powerful fantasy-busting statement. "Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." Unless mom and dad are building a home God's way, with God's Word, for God's glory, all their parenting is a fantasy waiting to fail.
Verse one reminds us that families are like micro cities, reflecting macro cities of which they belong. And family fathers, like city fathers, build walls of protection. A parent's rules are safeguards against enemy attack. But the best defense is like no defense without God.
In ancient China, the people desired security from the barbaric, invading hordes to the North. To get this protection, they built the Great Wall of China. It's 30 feet high, 18 feet thick, and more than 1,500 miles long. The Chinese goal was to build an absolutely impenetrable defense--too high to climb over, too thick to break down, and too long to go around.
However, during the first hundred years of the wall's existence, China was successfully invaded three times. It wasn't the wall's fault. During all three invasions, the barbaric hordes never climbed over the wall, broke it down or went around it; they simply bribed a gatekeeper and then marched right in through the open door. The wall failed not because the wall broke down, but because values broke down.
Rules without God are like walls without a faithful guard. It is a parent's escape into fantasy to think that curfews alone, that internet filters alone, that dating guidelines alone, that family discussions alone will protect children from the deadly influences of the world. Why? Because parents need the Lord's help if they are to help their children.
Parents, the gatekeepers of the home like the ancient gatekeepers of China, can be bribed by Satan and the world. Parents can backslide, lose their integrity, compromise their convictions. That's when the gate is opened wide for a secret invasion. Remember 1 Corinthians 10:12? "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." There is no guarantee of safety without full and continual dependence on the only true Keeper of the home—the Lord Himself. To think otherwise is sheer fantasy, and will end in the fall of the family, which when all else fails, is the last citadel of virtue in the world.
Do you live in reality or fantasy? Do you see yourself as God sees you? First, when you dress a certain way, talk a certain way, and act a certain way, you are advertising yourself. Are you guilty of false advertising? Only God's view is reality. Second, do you see the church as a place to perfect holiness with imperfect people, or a place of perfect holiness with perfect people? The former is reality and the latter is pure fantasy. And third, do you see your home as a safe place for relationships simply because of protective measures. Those rules and policies can be as hard as granite, but without the great Keeper of the wall, you are living in a fool's paradise--a fantasy that will cost you dearly, your own flesh and blood.
Leave Satan's lies and escape into reality. But don't escape back into fantasy. Remember Peter’s admonition in 2 Peter 2:20, "For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning."