Look! Nemo and Dorie are really real!

The Beauty Hunters and I got to explore the zoo one day last week. I can't begin to describe what a gift from God it was to spend the day with these little people. Two years ago I would have never guessed that God would give me such delight in these little ones. But, I have learned so much from them and this zoo trip was no exception.

If only you could have heard the joy and excitment in their little voices when they saw these fish in the aquarium! "Nemo and Dorie are really real!" their joyful shouts echoed through the hall without regard for others trying to quietly observe these creatures made to silently sing their Creator's praise.

I've been processing this reaction ever since and I've come to realize something: we all long for authenticity. It is part of our nature. We want to know what's really real.

This can't be all bad -- but it is certainly stained by sin. This desire to know whether something was really real existed in Eve prior to the fall. Satan knew it. He used it against her. "Did God actually say that?" "Do you think you will really die?" Satan challenged this creature, made in the very image of God himself, to disbelieve that God would be faithful to His Word!

She doubted the Creator. She fell for the lie. And we've been struggling to determine what is really real ever since.

Oh what grace Jesus brings when he says,

"I am the way, and the truth, and the life."

John 14:6 ESV

And when he promises,
 

"You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

John 8:32 ESV

And when he boldly declares in the high court of Pilate,

"For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world— to bear witness to the truth."

John 18:37 ESV

He is the truth. Truth is a person. His name is Jesus.
 
But do we really believe? Do we live in such a way so as to declare to our wandering soul day after day that God is faithful to His promises? That we can know Him who is really real because He has revealed Himself to us in His Word? That His Word is the very breath of the Holy Spirit? 

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth."

John 1:14 ESV

O Lord, we believe! Help our unbelief!