The Growing Divide: There’s more than meets the eye

Things are not what they seem. This is a world at war. ~John Eldredge.

John Eldredge didn’t make that quote this week. He wrote it in Waking the Dead back in 2016. It was relevant then — and it’s especially significant today. He continues: “We live in two worlds — or better, in one world with two parts, one part that we can see and one part that we cannot.”

There is much happening in our world today. But a reality has set in while the rhetoric increases and the name-calling and tension jump astronomically. Tony Evans says, “Until you recognize that your struggle is not with man but with spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places, you will never begin to live in victory.”

You see, the growing chasm and separation is not Republican/Democrat, conservation/liberal, black/white, old/young, rich/poor, or any other demographic. That is what we see, but the real battle — the one we cannot see — is spiritual. And that is the battle that matters. The struggle you see with your natural eyes, though, will not be settled until the fight you don’t see is won — and lost.

We live in 2 Timothy 3, where people have become “lovers of themselves, without self-control, brutal, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure…and having a form of godliness.”

We are experiencing Isaiah 5:20. It’s common today that people among us say evil is good, and good is evil. Light is darkness, and darkness is light.

And we live in the days of “wars and rumors of wars” and “earthquakes in various places, and famines.” These have become almost commonplace in recent years.

It’s safe and comfortable to believe what is seen because that is what we’ve been trained to see. It’s more challenging to see the spiritual battle, the real battles determining what happens in Israel, Washington, and even our schools, churches, and neighborhoods.

If this is a new discussion for you, read C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters or This Present Darkness or Piercing the Darkness by Frank Peretti. Or you can take to your Bible in 2 Timothy 3 or Matthew 24. They are eye-openers and not far-fetched or “way out” there. They are real.

You can see a picture of the real struggle in Ephesians 6:12 (NIV): “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

And, if you want to see it played out in real life, read Daniel 10, specifically verses 10-14. The invisible world drives the world we can see, not vice versa. In those passages, you can see an explanation of what may be happening with your prayers and in your life. And consider that Jesus, Paul, Peter, and others in the Old Testament encountered spiritual battles along the way.

The Growing Divide has always been there. It is simply becoming more evident and more palpable with the ever-increasing world events.

So the next time you’re watching your favorite news channel or that Republican lashes out against a Democrat (or vice versa, because it goes both ways), ask yourself: What’s really going on here? What do I need to see?

As John Eldredge suggests, “There is more going on here than meets the eye. Far more.”

What does all of this mean to you and me?

Great question. First, it should be sobering to realize that the real war is happening in another world that has largely been hidden or unseen — right under our noses. Perhaps it’s time to take a look at where the real action is taking place. It should explain and illuminate some blank spots in the bigger story of why we’re here and what’s happening in our midst.

FACE IT. The decision you and I will make in the coming era is not how to vote in the next election or whether we will agree with a particular group’s position or not. It’s whether we will side with right or wrong, good or evil. There is no room for vacillation or equivocation. None of us will be able to sit on the sidelines.

MINDSHIFT. Take a step back and consider the battle you don’t see. It sounds backward, but the unseen is real (permanent, eternal), and the seen is not real (temporary). “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” ~1 Corinthians 4:18.

IT’S NOT PEOPLE. It’s not that people aren’t essential and part of the equation. It’s simply that we are bit players in a larger story. A story that began before we got here and will continue after we are gone. Until we recognize that, life can be confusing and frustrating. See the actual battle and learn how to fight in that world. Hear Tony Evans’ message on Spiritual Warfare.

CONSIDER YOUR RELATIONSHIPS. Do you have a relationship that hasn’t exactly been clicking lately? Perhaps a good time to ask why? Is that chasm due to disagreements, politics, or other friction? Or is it related to spiritual beliefs, values, or unlike-mindedness? Listen to Priscilla Shirer: Your Spiritual Battle.

FOCUS ON IMPORTANT THINGS. And very little is really important. Your sanity, friends, family, church, your circle. Build a solid foundation, and then you can help others do the same.

For by him all things were made, in heaven and on earth, things seen and things unseen, authorities, lords, rulers, and powers; all things were made by him and for him. Colossians 1:16.

This is a developing story. More to come. Stay tuned.