Not everything that looks good is good.
In an age of manufactured personas and virtue signaling, it’s easier than ever to confuse a performance for real character. Russell Moore’s recent article in Christianity Today warns against this dangerous deception, what he calls the habit of pretending sin is virtuous.
Years ago, “The Matrix” was a hugely popular film. Since it dealt with the difference between what was seen and unseen and how the unseen was more real, pastors across America used the story in their sermons. That was 1999.
In a recent television interview, Keanu Reeves shared an anecdote where he explained the premise of “The Matrix” to a friend’s children who hadn’t seen the movie. He described it as a story about a man living in a virtual world who discovers the existence of the real world and begins to question and search for what’s real. One child asked, “Who cares if it’s real?” Reeves found this interesting and inspiring, replying, “Awesome.”
What a difference twenty years makes. In an age of bots replying to social media posts or posting things and the growth of AI and virtual interactions, the younger generation prefers the manufactured world to real experiences. This has only led to more anxiety, depression, and mental health problems.
Perhaps we should get back to what is real.
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What Are the Ways Modern Society Rejects Reality?
Escapism dominates our culture. To get relief from their problems, many people dive into entertainment, spending hours binge-watching shows, playing video games, or scrolling social media. Instead of facing their struggles, they hide in fictional worlds that offer temporary relief but no real solutions. Our digital age provides alternate realities where people create online identities, many times false. These virtual realities lead people to prefer a manufactured world rather than one with real, actual people who are complicated and difficult at times. Constant engagement with fantasies diminishes the ability to think critically; young people are less likely to take personal responsibility, losing resilience. Ironically, a search for control and happiness leads them further from contentment, making them more discontented and anxious.
Connected with the rise of escapism, many today replace objective truth with personal feelings. People claim to have their “own truth,” a relativism denying any higher, absolute truth. This removes a real, secure foundation from our society. If truth becomes whatever people feel in the immediate moment, then reality loses meaning. People can—and do—deny facts and reality and further demand others agree with their relative notions. The modern philosophy not only goes against logic but resists Scripture, which teaches Christ is truth (John 14:6) and never changes. Therefore, those of such modern thinking reject the Bible, which would actually help them find the contentment and peace they long for. Instead, they get more fear and anxiety, even depression and suicide.
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What Is Real?
Therefore, the question becomes, “What is real?”
To begin with, God proves to be the most real. He is the only self-existent person, and as Creator, all existence depends upon him. He holds all reality together. What is real, what is existence, starts with the person of God and flows from that truth.
From that, Scripture declares the unseen world is more real than the visible. What we see is temporary and will pass away, but what is seen is eternal and unshakable. The unseen God created the world we see. As a result, we see how the invisible has more power and reality.
Love points people to the unseen, as Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:18, “We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” The physical world won’t last and can’t be the ultimate reality. Everything in our vision—our bodies, possessions, the earth—will one day be gone. However, the unseen things of God and his realm—like the Kingdom, his Word, and promises—will last forever.
Since it pre-existed what we see, the unseen is also unchangeable. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8) All within the physical world changes. Empires and nations rise and fall, and circumstances end or begin anew. God and his truth stay the same. The spiritual realm, beyond our physical sight, will not decay or corrupt.
Therefore, in his love, God gives us faith. The Bible teaches us how faith leads us to what is real. “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1) Faith acts like a different perspective; through it, God allows us to see the unseen, calling us to what is real and true for our good and his glory. Just like we can’t see gravity or the wind but experience their effects and presence, we can’t see God’s Kingdom with human eyes. But through faith in the Son, we can enter by the Spirit and know the Father’s Kingdom reality.
Jesus taught this in Matthew 24:35: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” Here, heaven refers to the sky and the stars. The physical world we see will perish, but God and his truth will never change and live on.
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What Is the Work of God’s Truth?
Through faith, God’s revealed truth makes known what is real. We can’t know what is real apart from his self-revelation. Left to ourselves and our ability, we are blind to what truly matters. In his grace and love, God reveals himself and the unseen so we can live in truth rather than lies.
God’s truth first reveals who God is. Hebrews 1:3 says, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the representation of his being.” God sent Christ as his ultimate self-revelation, God with us, and Jesus taught and lived in heaven on earth. Without Jesus, we would only have partial glimpses of reality. Since God is a person, and his realm is another world completely unlike ours, we can’t bridge the gap intellectually or emotionally. We must experience the Father through the Son. By being born again by the Spirit, we can see and enter the Kingdom of God (John 3).
The apostle Paul writes in Colossians 1:16, “For in him all things were created; things in heaven and earth, visible and invisible.” People who reject God’s revelation live only by what they see. Being unaware of unseen forces submits them to lies and half-truths at best. From the beginning, with the serpent in the Garden, those lies lead to pain, destruction, and death. It matters when we know what’s real.
God’s revealed truth transforms us, renews our thinking, and flows into righteous acts. Jesus prayed for this. “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” (John 17:17) God’s word changes our beliefs, motivations, and perspective to the eternal, aligning us with what is real rather than the false images of the world. Through the Spirit and the Scripture, we encounter the forever of God’s Kingdom and righteousness so we won’t perish but build on the right foundation.
Through God’s truth and knowing the unseen, he disciples us in his ways for us to rule and reign with him forever. Experiencing the eternal reality saves us from hell, death, and destruction, but that’s not all the Father’s doing. His plan focuses on developing a people to have forever relationship with, and from there, to partner with him in administering heaven on earth in the Kingdom.
The Lord designed us to engage with the spiritually real God and his realm and express that reality on earth. Through Christ, God makes this available to us again, redeems us, and we then find the contentment, joy, and peace we long for in his love today and in the eternal future.
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What Is the Purpose of the Arts and Fiction?
While entertainment has its negatives, it twists the purpose for the arts. Fiction, music, and the arts weren’t meant for escaping reality. That perverts their mission and reason to exist. The higher purpose for arts and fiction is to reveal the truly real, the unseen. Scripture shows how God uses artistic expressions of all kinds to communicate eternal truth. When used properly, the arts point us to what is unseen, drawing us closer to God.
The Bible itself contains an amazing artistic expression. The Psalms contain vivid and evocative poetry, capturing human emotions relating to worship. Prophets recount powerful visions full of complex and enduring symbolism, expressing God’s Word through images. Even the physical design of the Temple or Tabernacle required artistic craftsmen and also symbolized God’s relationship with humanity.
Jesus, the greatest teacher and revelation of the Father, used fictional stories called parables to point to the unseen. He often said, “The Kingdom of God is like …” and told a story. These became illustrations mixed in with Christ's prophetic instruction. Through storytelling, Jesus made incredibly deep truths simple and relatable, even personal.
As another example, the prophet Nathan told a story to convict King David of sin with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 12:1-7), leading to David’s repentance. The book of Revelation overflows with striking imagery, revealing the coming victory of Christ over death and sin and the coming new heaven and earth.
The arts should point people to God rather than providing an escape from reality. Fiction shouldn’t remove us from reality but help us view it with more clarity.
Even in so doing, we must remember to pray for people to have the love of the truth.
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How Is the Love of the Truth the Cure?
People may hear Scripture and compelling spiritual teaching, and they can engage with Spirit-infused arts, but unless individuals are willing to receive and value the truth, they won’t experience transformation.
The love of the truth is the cure for death, deception, delusion, and the world’s rejection of reality. The New Testament warns us how, in the last days, many will fall under a “great delusion” because they refuse to love the truth. “They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason, God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie.” (2 Thessalonians 2:10-11)
Hearing the truth is different than loving it. People can repeat Bible verses and theological treatises and still reject God. Loving the truth means recognizing its value and being willing to pay the cost of owning and following it. Jesus describes the pearl of great price in Matthew 13:45-46, a man who found the pearl and sold everything to have it. Truth requires all of us—our surrender, humility, and obedience. Those who love the truth don’t just mentally or verbally acknowledge it; they give their all to possess it.
Lies spread because people don’t want to make such sacrifices. They desire their own desires over God’s reality. Lies are accepted as truth when emotions and our preferences determine what’s real. They would rather “pretend,” escape from reality and shape their own “truth” than submit to the One who is truth and seeks to give them life. Choosing the lie, the pretend leads to ultimate destruction.
The love of the truth sets people free. “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32) When we love the truth, we listen to God, no matter how challenging it might be. We see beyond this world into the eternal world of God.
In a world where pretending trends and rules the day, we must love the truth ourselves, paying what it costs us because we know its benefits now and in the future. Then we pray for the world to also love and receive the truth, to live by it and also find the life they long for.
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Originally published Friday, 21 March 2025.