Suspended Reality.
Before this week, I had never heard this phrase before, but it stood out to me. And I immediately thought of our faith in Christ.
But before I explain, let me share how others define suspended reality. For starters, a lot of people use this term to describe something fantastical, almost unrealistic or magical. I also read an article about the life of an NFL football player who appeared to have a lot of external problems in his life and career, but had an inner circle of love and support. The media called this a suspended reality.
But what do you think of? The word suspend has multiple meanings but the one that makes the most sense to me is the reference to something hanging (or being suspended), like a bridge or a chandelier. The dictionary says it means to hang by attachment to something above, or to attach so as to allow free movement. It also means to keep from falling or sinking — to suspend.
And this is why I thought about our faith.
The world says we’re crazy. They don’t understand how we can have joy when chaos is surrounding us on every side. They mock those who speak an apparent contradiction to what’s actually facing them (like confessing healing when the doctors have told them otherwise).
But Paul said, “If we are beside ourselves [mad, as some say], it is for God and concerns Him; if we are in our right mind, it is for your benefit” (2 Corinthians 5:13, AMP). In other words…
Sometimes our faith looks and acts crazy, but it’s because our sights are not on this world.
Our suspended reality is that we have feet that walk this earth but hearts that sit somewhere else. We’re in this world, but not of this world (John 17:14). And as I meditated on this thought, I remembered the passage from 2 Corinthians 4:
“We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death is working in us, but life in you. And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,” we also believe and therefore speak” (7-13).
You see, we are attached to something else yet allowed to have free movement. It’s why we can be hard-pressed but not crushed, perplexed but not depressed, or in appearance struck down, yet in reality, still standing! All because of the death and life of Jesus which supports our faith– and to some, creates a suspended reality.
I’ll say YES. It is a suspended reality because this spirit of faith keeps me from sinking or falling. It creates a bridge in the unseen realm of this world, where I walk with confidence over the trials and tribulations that would otherwise bury me.
And I strengthen my suspended reality by the words I speak in faith. “I believed and therefore I spoke,” we also believe and therefore speak.” God’s Word in my mouth lays the next plank in this bridge I walk on. And it’s real. It’s my reality. “For we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7).
Suspended reality.
For Christians, this is why “we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever” (2 Corinthians 4:18, NLT).
Our faith is our bridge–suspended above the natural course of this world. Our bridge to anywhere.
