Did you just see that?!?! You would think I was crazy if I told you I was seeing things that weren’t there. Maybe seeing things that are not there is not that crazy after all. Today, I want to convince you that you actually live in two worlds… The physical world and the spiritual world. I want to try convince you that there’s more to life than what you can see. Basically, I’m trying to help you see things that are invisible.
There’s more to life than what you see
All of us function like there’s more to life than what we can see. For example, you can’t see love but you know it exists. You can’t see the wind but you can see the effects of the wind. You can’t see gravity but you feel it every second of the day. There are many very real aspects of our world that you cannot see.
Then there is a spiritual aspect to our world that you can’t see. This is what Ephesians 6:12 in the Bible suggests when it says we don’t wrestle against flesh and blood. The fact that Ephesians uses the language of wrestling means that two forces are struggling with each other. The physical world is wrestling with the spiritual world. In other words, there is a spiritual fight happening around us and inside us. Even in the spiritual world there is a fight for your soul. It’s a battle between good and evil and the results lead to Heaven or Hell.
Are you able to recognize the spiritual component to life? If you’re having trouble identifying spiritual forces let me remind you. God gives you eyes to see this spiritual battle. If you are a follower of Jesus, when you became a believer you were given spiritual eyes to see- but you have to use them. I’m not suggesting God gave you spiritual contact lenses, rather I am saying he took the spiritual blindfold off. Now you can see what was always there.
You are a spiritual person who lives in a physical world
The very beginning of the Bible hints at the spiritual world. When God was creating the physical world he made plants, animals, mountains, and trees. But when he made man, he made both a physical and a spiritual being. In Genesis 2:7 God put his breath into Adam and he became a living being, or a living soul. Every human being has an eternal soul. You have a little bit of the spirit of God inside you. That makes you a physical being in a spiritual world or a spiritual being in a physical world.
If you know Jesus Christ personally, this is even more pronounced because now you have his Holy Spirit living inside you (Romans 5:5). The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 6:19 that our body is a “temple of the Holy Spirit” for those who know Jesus as Savior. You are both a physical being and a spiritual being. You are missing part of your nature if you only focus on the physical world around you. Don’t make the mistake of ignoring one for the sake of the other.
The spiritual reality is eternally more important than the physical
Which of the two is more important – the physical world or the spiritual world? Well, right now the physical world feels pretty urgent but in light of eternity, the spiritual world is much more important.
Don’t get so focused on the physical that you miss the spiritual. Listen to CS Lewis’s advice, “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.”2
In the physical world there are many things demanding your attention. There are many things fighting for your heart. This is also true in the spiritual world. There is a battle raging for your soul and for our society.
The battle for your soul
There is a battle going on inside you. Do you feel it? It’s a raging war for your soul. This war is between good and evil. God is calling you into a relationship with him. He wants you to dwell forever with him in Heaven. This is only possible through unconditional surrender. You waving the white flag and saying, “God, I give up. I am no longer calling the shots in my life. You win.” Until you’ve surrendered your soul to Jesus Christ that battle will continue raging inside you until the moment you die (Luke 4:18).
The battle for our society
The battle for our society is being waged in every area of life. It’s in the political sphere. It’s in the media daily. It’s being fought in school classrooms for the hearts of our children. This battle is being waged in living rooms and board rooms. I don’t know about you, but I’m highly concerned that we are losing ground every day in this battle for the soul of our society. Don’t go AWOL on this battle. Get into the fight for our society.
One final reminder- Jesus has already won the battle! Jesus disarmed evil spiritual forces and put them to shame by triumphing over them through his death and resurrection (Colossians 2:15). The battle between good and evil doesn’t exist. That battle is over. Jesus won that battle a long time ago. The only battles that remain, are the battles for your soul and for our society. Who’s winning this battle right now?
2 C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (West Chicago, IL: Lord and King Associates, 1976), 17.
