Since the 1920s physicists like Max Plank, Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrodinger, and Albert Einstein have been saying subatomic particles (which are the building blocks of matter—and you’re matter) are not actually there, only potentially there . . . until someone consciously observes them—that is . . . until someone thinks about them.
According to the laws of Quantum Mechanics, if you and I exist in the same reality, Someone must be observing us both…a more powerful Observer. And that Observer must be thinking about you and me; that Observer must be thinking about all of us.
If only the things that are observed—thought about by the Observer—are what truly exist, that means in order for us to have real relationships with real people, we must allow every part of ourselves to be observed by that Observer. In order to experience what it means to truly exist, we need to let every part of ourselves be seen by that Observer. Scripture reveals that Observer is God.
But early on, the serpent came in and tempted Adam and Eve into believing lies about God and His goodness, about themselves and whether or not God’s creation was good. He tempted them to doubt the reality God had created and instead of trusting Him, they attempted to create their own reality by taking fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and it led to Adam and Eve hiding from God in shame:
And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself” (Gen. 3:8-10
Paul wrote, “Give no place to the devil,” and “Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might…” “That you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.” So we give no place to the devil by “being strong in the Lord and the strength of His might, but it’s impossible to be “in the Lord” and “in His might” if we hide from Him.
If we refuse to be observed because we want to be the Lord of our own life, and creator of our own reality…if we refuse to be observed…well, perhaps for a time, and in a way, we can. Yet, to hide from God, the Observer, is to un-create and desecrate ourselves. It is to trap ourselves in non-reality: illusions, lies, insanity, darkness, and death.
And the saddest part of hiding from God is, if you want to create your own reality, you cannot allow other observers or persons in your reality; for their reality will compete with your reality. So, you must create a reality without persons and thus without Love, which means without God, which means (from your perspective) you would not be observed and thus…not truly exist. You would be false…not alive…but dead–not substance but shadow–a phantasma in Greek, translated “phantom” or “ghost.”
We often hold ourselves captive in fear and shame, hiding in the shadows and death when we don’t need to. We hide, yet God never stops pursuing us (He’s in the garden crying out, “Where are you?” He never stops thinking about us, and His thoughts are His Logos, His Word, His Reason. And His Word became flesh and dwelt among us; we wrapped Him in swaddling cloths and laid Him in a manger, and His name is Jesus; He is God’s unending, relentless loving pursuit and sacrifice for all humanity, ever-present crying out, “Please don’t hide. Where are you?”
In Romans, Paul wrote: “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom. 8:38-39) Not even our own creation (or more accurately desecration)—our shadow self—can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In Ephesians 4:9 Paul told us that Jesus “descended into the lower parts of the earth and ascended leading a host of captives free.”
Even if you trap yourself in a shadow self, in an illusion of life that is actually death, you cannot do so forever.
In Revelation 20:14 At the end of time as we know it, “Death and Hell are thrown in the lake of fire and death shall be no more.” The word translated “Hell” in many Bibles is usually Hades in the Greek and Sheol in the Hebrew. And that word does not mean what most American Christians think it means. Hades is not eternal and it is not only in the afterlife; Hades begins here and now, in our hearts and minds. Scripture is clear: death and hell (Hades) come to an end in a lake of eternal and consuming fire; our God is eternal and consuming fire. God is the end of Hell.
But why wait until the end to be free from hiding in the shadows? Why live as a shadow self— a false self, in fear and alone—when God longs for a relationship with you at this very moment?
In Ephesians 4:25 Paul wrote, “Put away the false and resist the devil.” To put off the false and resist the devil is to invite Jesus, the ultimate reality, into every corner of your shadow self.
Why hide?
He loves you.
And He is here for you right now. Leave the shadows and walk into His light.
This devotional was prepared by Kimberly Weynen, Peter Hiett’s assistant. It is a compilation of several devotional thoughts from Kimberly and excerpts from Peter’s sermon titled: “Get Real (a what or a who)” To read, watch or listen to the sermon in its entirety click here: Get Real and Renounce the Kingdom of Lies
*Discussion questions are available here: Discussion Questions “Get Real (and renounce the kingdom of lies)