“Reality is whatever you want it to be”, said an acquaintance of mine one day. “That’s not right.” I replied, and thus began our discussion of what is “real”. Many people espouse beliefs like this without thinking the logic of the statement through to its conclusion. “So if you want your reality to be one where you can fly, all you have to do is believe?” That should have been enough to show the error of his ways, but he actually agreed with the statement. “Then let’s go to the roof and you can demonstrate this for me.”

Reality is not whatever we want it to be; we could go all day listing the things that reality is not but that wouldn’t get us closer to answering our question. One popular answer comes from Morpheus in the the film The Matrix. Here’s what he has to say:

“What is real? How do you define real? If you are talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain.”

This appears to be less of a fairy tale than the gentleman I spoke with years ago, and it is an explanation that many accept but it is just as wrong in its approach. Both treat reality as a container of sorts. In the first case it is a container that we fill with whatever we want – we build our own reality. In the second case it is a container that we ourselves -- and everything we can feel, smell taste and see – exist inside of. But reality is not a container.

What I mean is that if we try to define reality by listing what is real then we are forced to include God alongside the rest of creation. The term “reality” becomes a container that encompasses the Creator and the creation equally. Such an understanding misplaces the importance of God in defining what is real. Because God created everything (Genesis 1.1), He is the Prime reality. Because everything was created ex nihilo (“out of nothing”) and could be uncreated (destroyed) just as easily, nothing else enjoys the same level of reality as God:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was fully God. The Word was with God in the beginning. All things were created by him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created.” -- John 1.1-.3.

In other words, God is ultimate reality; everything else is temporal, or created, reality — still real, but with a possible expiration date on that realness. Now that we can define what is real we have to ask ourselves, what difference does it make?

Does this mean that everything is God’s reality and we’re just living in it? Or did God create us with the ability to impact or influence reality? The answer to both questions is “yes”. God created us and put is in a perfect place and gave us control over the physical world – to shape and order its reality. Which we did, sadly, in a horrific way. But just as we caused the present reality to be cursed, we still have the power (diminished though it may be) to be a blessing to others. Help shape the reality of our world by thinking biblically and acting righteously.

Why God ultimately created anything is a question that cannot be directly answered from any source. We can say with certainty that it was not because God was lacking in any way or because we fulfill some need in Him.