Things Are Not Always As They Seem

I heard this week that the Broadway show Wicked is coming out as a movie. Certain daughters of mine seem to be very excited about that. Interestingly enough, I read a great devotional this week that employed a Wizard of Oz reference. I couldn’t let this coincidence fall by the wayside without writing about it.

The author of the devotional made the point that in every great story, things are not what they seem - there is a whole lot more going on than meets the eye. He used Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz as an example. After the she wakes up from the tornado, she finds herself in a whole new world - the Land of Oz. The producers brilliantly waited to introduce color in the movie until this point. Everything had been in black and while until then. After the screen explodes into color, she tells her dog, “Toto, I don’t think we are in Kansas anymore.”

On the road to Emmaus, two followers of Christ are headed away from town after the crucifixion. They are devasted at the perceived loss of their Savior. Meanwhile, Jesus sort of sneaks up beside them and joins their conversation. They don’t recognize that it is him. What might we be failing to see?

We live in two worlds - the seen and the unseen. It is dangerous to live by sight alone. Our eyes cannot always be trusted. They deceive us at times and lead us into living in fear, jealousy, lust, pride and all sorts of other sin and destructive thinking.

Living by faith requires that we rely on the unseen to help us make our way and to make sense of the seen. Living by faith recognizes the unseen realm that followers of Christ are a part of while acknowledging the existence of darkness. Living by faith recognizes that there is more going on than meets the eye. Far more.

Stay Hungry,

Big E

Matt. 5:6