Do Your Perceptions Match Reality?

 

This happened a while back while I was at work. My job is such that myself and a co-worker work together mostly without many other people around. One day we were working together and somehow the topic of baseball came up. This is one of those random workplace topics that come up.

Anyway, I posed a question out of curiosity. I was trying to figure out in my head about how far it was from the pitcher’s mound to home plate. And I just wanted something to compare it to. So, I asked, out of the blue, “How far do you think it is from the pitcher’s mound to home plate?” Then I gestured to the two walls running length-wise of the room we were in. I asked, “About the distance from this wall to the other?” My co-worker said, “Oh no, it’s probably from that wall to here”, pointing to the middle of the room, which is where we were sitting. I said, “No, I don’t think so.” He said, “That’s a long ways from that wall to the other.” I must have piqued his curiosity because he then went and got out the measuring tape. He ended up measuring the whole length of the wall. He came to the end and the length he came up with was 57 feet. For those of you who don’t know, the length from home plate to the pitcher’s mound is 60 feet.

After he measured it he was kind of in disbelief. This went even further, though. We explained our debate to one of the guys who comes in on our next shift and he didn’t believe it either. And he, also, had to get out the measuring tape to find out what the actual distance was. Of course, he too found the distance to be 57 feet. And once he had measured it he said, half-jokingly, “I think there’s something wrong with this measuring tape.”

The point I’m trying to make here is this; I wonder how often what we perceive to be true maybe isn’t. You see, in this instance, I had adjusted my perceptions to match my experience. And what my experience told me was that distances always appear further when you are indoors. So, I had made that adjustment mentally when I estimated the length of the room. Now, my point here isn’t that I was right and they were wrong. I’m sure there are instances where I would have been wrong in a different situation.

But I started thinking about this in another light. This can happen also when we make snap judgments about other people, situations, or things. Maybe that person isn’t the way they actually appear to be to you. Maybe, and most likely, once you got to know them you would find that your perception was entirely wrong. Sometimes we can approach situations and think we have it totally figured out at the beginning, only to find out once we get into it that we didn’t know anything about the situation. Maybe some location you thought you wouldn’t like to live you would end up finding you did if you tried it.

So, sometimes, maybe many times our perceptions are off. There is more I want to say about this, though.

 

…Let’s go deeper

There’s one main verse I would like to apply here. The verse is Proverbs 14:12, “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” You see, as we go about this life we learn as we get older that things aren’t always the way they appear to be. We tend to want to trust what we see. We can see a mirage in the desert and think that there’s water there. But when we finally reach the mirage we see that our eyes were fooling us. So, we know we can’t always go by what we see.
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So, if we can’t go by what we see, then what do we go by? Well, if you can’t go by what you see, then you have to go by what you believe. And, as a Christian, this is how we’re supposed to live. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:7 “(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)” This means, no matter what the situation looks like we trust God and what his Word says. Sometimes the situation may look dire and overwhelming, but if we give it to God then he can work on it. He will work through that situation and help us through that situation. We have to give it to him, though. We can’t cling to it. 1 Peter 5:7 says, “Casting all you care upon him; for he careth for you.” So, we don’t worry about it. We trust him because we have cast our care onto him.

And some of you may not be Christians. You may think the path you’re on is the right way. But, like that mirage in the distance, when you finally reach it you find there’s nothing there. Whatever you think that right way is. Whether you think it’s just being a good person, or being materially successful, or some other way. But have you ever asked yourself if you’re on the right track? Do you know how you’ll end up when this life is over? You can know today. That way is through Jesus. Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” All you need to do is confess your sin to him and trust him and he will change you from within. Then as you follow him he makes you more like himself.

This is what the truth is. It’s exclusive. There can only be one truth. That’s why Jesus said he is the way, the truth, and the life. So, we can know our perceptions match reality when we know that we’re following him and what his Word says. Amen?

Proverbs 14:12, “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”

2 Corinthians 5:7 “(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)”

1 Peter 5:7 says, “Casting all you care upon him; for he careth for you.”

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