What is reality?  Webster’s says that reality is the state or quality of being real.   So what is real?  It seems today that many people do not know what is real.    If you stand out in the rain you will get wet!  That is reality.

As I write this, the police are chasing a car out in Los Angles that is speeding up to ninety miles an hour through busy streets.  After nearly an hour of trying to stop it, finally a tire blows, the vehicle  spun around and stopped.   The police then commanded the driver to get out of the car and lie down on the highway.  When it was all over, they found there were two women in the car. Finally, fourteen police cars pulled up and surrounded this banged up vehicle that had been trying to out run the police.   Apparently those 2 women did not know what reality was.  They had stolen a vehicle, left the scene of an accident, endangered the lives of others, and all this time probably never even thought about the reality of the circumstances, or the many charges that could be brought against them. Could they possibly have thought they could get away with breaking all those laws?  Everyone knows that crime doesn’t pay.  Folks, let me say, that is reality.  To put it politely, in my opinion, they were  asking for jail time and for their licences to be revoked. I feel sure they will get that, and more. And that will be reality.

Examples of Reality

A.  If you keep spending more money than you have and charge it to a credit card and never make payments, it will finally catch up with you. To say the least you will damage your credit, but worse than that you could be in danger of a law suit or bankruptcy.  Reality is paying for what you buy, and living within your income.  Too many people have purchased homes, or vehicles they can not pay for and they end up losing them.  The main problem here is it should have never been bought in the first place if they couldn’t afford it. Today many people seem to be living in a fanciful  world of getting things they want even if they can not afford them. Folks, reality is living within your income and your ability to pay.  This will also help you keep your blood pressure under control.

B.  Another is the idea people have is that everything is going to be great when it comes to retirement. People want to save up all they can for retirement. Insurance companies can speak to this as they sell retirement policies to millions of people who plan  for the future by buying these policies. Also, at the work place some companies offer retirement plans for their employees.  Other people take it upon themselves to save for that golden age of their lives.  Multitudes think that one day they won’t have to go to work, that they can stay home and do some of the things they’ve always wanted to do but couldn’t  because they had to go to work. There is no doubt we all need to prepare for the future by saving for a rainy day.  Retirement is something everyone is looking forward to.  We just “can’t wait to retire.”  It’s kind of like Christmas.  People look forward to Christmas, planning where they will shop, what they will bake, and so on. Eagerly awaiting that big day.  But once it comes, it is suddenly gone, and many are left with big bills and worn out from company and overeating.

Some even complain and say, “I won’t do this much again.” But the reality is, they will. Christmas can be an expensive and tiring experience.  And let’s not forget, for all the time it took for the decorations, lights and tree trimming, it will all have to be cleaned up and put away until next year.  Whew! Yes, it is great while it’s here but the reality of it all when it’s over leaves people stressed out and in debt. That is reality.

What’s Next

There’s also a point people miss when they think about how great retirement will be. After we’ve retired, the next thing we may be facing is sickness. And of course we all will face death even if we escape sickness and disability. Remember the guy who graduated from high school and someone  asked him, “what is next?”  Then he went to college and again he was asked, “what is next?”  Then he graduated as a lawyer and someone asked him, “what is next?”  Then he made a lot of money and grew old, and someone asked him, “what is next?”  So he said, I am going to retire,  and someone asked him, then “what is next?”  With a sad look on his face he had no answer for what he thought would be  next.  My friends, do you know what is next after retirement?   This is reality.  This is the way it is, and we cannot change it.

Today there is a big push to eat the right kind of foods.  Get plenty of carbohydrates, proteins, and eat lots of fruits and vegetables, so you will have a balanced diet.  But did you know that even if you always ate the right kind of food, and you drank the right kind of drinks including water, and you got plenty of exercise, you are still going to die.  Folks, this is reality!  Oh, you might live a few years longer and have a better quality of life for a while, but eventually, they will call for the undertaker to come and take your lifeless body away to be buried in the ground, or cremated, having the ashes placed in a jar.  Do you know anyone who is one hundred and twenty five.  Probably not.  Most of us know few over a hundred.  

For as in Adam all die, .. 1 Corinthians 15:22a.   The wages of sin is death.  Romans 6:23

Here is another reality.  You can be one of the most educated persons around, but you will not live any longer than a high school drop out, generally speaking.   I have read of a number of men called to the ministry who died before they were thirty years of age, or there about.  What brought that all about someone might say? Just goes to show, death can come at any age to anyone.  Just take a walk through the cemetery and look at the headstones and see all the babies, children and others whose remains have been placed there.  You will find them from infants to over one hundred years. Some of you may be surprised at how many that are below thirty years of age.  This is reality!   Even Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the prince of preachers, and Dwight L. Moody, the famous evangelist did not live to be sixty five years of age.

Folks, when the sun comes up in the morning you can count on it going down in the evening.  This is reality.  If you live in this world you will get older the longer you stay here. Again, reality.

You cannot have birthdays without getting older, and in time you will begin to slow down.  The wisdom writer made it quite clear.

Don’t let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your Creator. Honor him in your youth before you grow old and say, “Life is not pleasant anymore.’’  Remember him before the light of the sun, moon, and stars is dim to your old eyes, and rain clouds continually darken your sky.  Remember him before your legs—the guards of your house—start to tremble; and before your shoulders—the strong men—stoop. Remember him before your teeth—your few remaining servants—stop grinding; and before your eyes—the women looking through the windows—see dimly.  Remember him before the door to life’s opportunities is closed and the sound of work fades. Now you rise at the first chirping of the birds, but then all their sounds will grow faint.  Remember him before you become fearful of falling and worry about danger in the streets; before your hair turns white like an almond tree in bloom, and you drag along without energy like a dying grasshopper, and the caperberry no longer inspires sexual desire. Remember him before you near the grave, your everlasting home, when the mourners will weep at your funeral.  Yes, remember your Creator now while you are young, before the silver cord of life snaps and the golden bowl is broken. Don’t wait until the water jar is smashed at the spring and the pulley is broken at the well.  For then the dust will return to the earth, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.  Ecclesiastes 12:1-7   LB

Now let me show you another reality.  Life can be a struggle, working hard to have something.   Most of us have a  desire to achieve or excel.  Working our fingers to the bone we want to have “things.”  Solomon as a young king experimented with many projects as he attempted to satisfy the interests he had in life.  As the following scriptures describe by the end of his pursuit for happiness and fulfillment, he finally concluded;  all is vanity.  Ecc. 12-8. Do not forget, Solomon was likely the richest man there ever was, as well as being wise.  Yet, with all his efforts the truth he learned was he needed God more than anything else.  Solomon, the wisdom writer did not live to be but around sixty to sixty two years of age.  Remember, it was said he was the wisest man who ever lived, but he died rather young.

I have lived long enough now to see this process unfolding before my eyes.  In fact, I am experiencing it more than I want too.  I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity.  I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it?  I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life.  I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards:  I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits:  I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees:  I got me servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me:  I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts.  So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me.  And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labor: and this was my portion of all my labor.   Ecclesiastes 2:1-10

I supposed you have noticed that everyone who leaves this world always leaves everything they have accumulated behind.  That is reality!  Too often family members wind up fighting over the “things” that they too will leave behind. Yes,  because before they know it, it will be them too, that will be gone from this earth’s scene. Far too many will have sought the things of this life and will miss out on the eternal paradise.   

The Reality of the Word
There have been many, many people down through the years who have tried to prove the Bible is not true.  With all the efforts men have made, none have disproved a single statement made in it.  The  spade  of  the archaeologist continues to reveal the ancient cultures and people of  past generations long forgotten.  Many of those who have attempted to disprove the Bible were those who were atheists.  There have been, and some still are, trying to prove there is no God and the Bible is not true.   But, many times these people themselves  become convicted of its truth,  and even they have become believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.   Hebrews 4:12

The reality is, if someone wants to be saved, just get under the sound of the gospel.  The holy scriptures say;

Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:  Isaiah 55:6

Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD’S anger.  Zephaniah 2:3

Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.   Matthew 11:28

Whether man will admit it or not he is a sinner, lost, and in need of salvation.  The problems of this world are all man made.  The Almighty God of heaven made a beautiful and perfect world for man to live in and man has polluted it with his sin.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?  Jeremiah 17:9

For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, ...  Mark 7:21

For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.   Romans 3:23

The reality is we all need a new heart, and that has been promised to all those who trust the Lord Jesus Christ as their own personal savior. Accept Him today and you can discover His mighty love for us all.

Father, we ask that you will enlighten those today who need a savior, in Jesus' name we pray. Amen, Preacher