The Spiritual Dimension

“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.”

Ephesians 3:17-18

In our world there are three physical dimensions – length, width and depth. However, most often we only think of only two dimensions. For every top there is a bottom. For every left there is a right. For every front there is a back. There is nothing in our world that doesn’t have an opposite side. There are also opposite sides in non-physical things such as politics (liberal versus conservative), economics (capitalism versus communism), and law (legal versus illegal). But perhaps most importantly, it seems to also be true in people’s beliefs about reality (absolute truth versus relative truth).

When it comes to truth, there is only truth and falsehood. Many people try to rationalize the truth and come up with their own opinion or interpretation of what may be the truth. But in the end, there is truth and there is falsehood. They are opposites. Something cannot be simultaneously true and false. The question then ultimately becomes the source of that truth. Is it from God, or is it from our self or someone else? And this is where the spiritual dimension comes in.

God is spirit and sovereign over both our physical and spiritual world. And as our Creator, He sets the standard for truth in our world because He is the Truth. Isaiah 45:19 says, “I, the Lord, speak the truth; I declare what is right.” If humans get to determine what truth is, then it will ultimately depend on what every individual person thinks it is, or what the majority of people think it is, and therefore it cannot be a standard for all people. It is plainly obvious that humans cannot set the standard for truth. It must come from our Creator! He is the only One capable of determining what truth is for everyone.

But there are other opposites in our world where without God and the spiritual dimension there also is no standard. For example, let’s take light and darkness. In our world there is light and there is darkness. Darkness is defined as the absence of light. There is no in between. A little light is still light. From God’s Word we know that “God is Light; in Him is no darkness.” (1 John 1:5). God’s desire for mankind is to live and walk in His Light (1 John 1:7). But our world loves darkness (John 3:19). Without God, men will dwell in darkness!

Similarly, there is good and there is evil. Something cannot be both good and evil at the same time. God’s nature is goodness. Psalm 34:8 says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good!”  God’s standard is good, not evil. The world is sinful, corrupt, and filled with evil. So without God there is only evil. If evil becomes our standard then we are in deep trouble! We need God to prevent that. As Romans 12:21 says, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

God also sent his Son Jesus into the world to be His standard for salvation (John 14:6). Jesus was sinless and took our sin upon Himself to enable us to receive God’s gift of eternal life. It is His grace alone that saves us. Ephesians 2:8 says that “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith.”  In our world many believe the opposite, that they can earn salvation by doing good works. Every religion other than Christianity holds to that belief. But in that belief salvation is not from God, it is from man. Therefore, it varies and is not a standard we can depend upon!

When it comes to beliefs, however, many people choose to believe something in the middle. Although there are opposite sides to every issue, we often forget about the space between each side. A coin has two sides, but there is a space in between the two sides, however small. And that leads to the 3^rd dimension of depth.

In our world of beliefs, the depth between opposites is usually a measure of one’s conviction, either weak or strong, about that belief. For example, you might not know for sure if something is true or accurate and so you have a certain level of belief that it is. People also have different experiences and perspectives which result in varying levels of attitudes towards an issue. Unfortunately, that does not result in clear choices between two opposites. Instead, people end up choosing the option that more closely fits their beliefs. That is often most clearly represented in surveys that we take, choosing along a scale as to whether we agree, disagree or are in the middle somewhere with what we think about a particular statement.

Similarly, there is also a spiritual depth to our faith and beliefs, even though God’s standards for truth, light and good are absolute and don’t change. He wants us to adhere to His standard and live according to it. But we can’t. It is because as people we are sinful and our nature is to do what we desire, which is evil and the opposite of good. So, in order to meet God’s standard of good, He sent His own Son Jesus into the world to die on a cross and become the standard for us. Consequently, we are only able to meet God’s standard when we place our faith in Jesus.

Furthermore, God sent His Holy Spirit to enable us to not only believe in Jesus, but to also trust in God’s Truth and live in God’s Light. The Bible says we must “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5) and “Live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” (Galatians 5:16) But when we don’t live up to His standard, because of Jesus, He forgives us, and we are cleansed so that we can once again meet His standard (1 John 1:9).

Finally, it is worth mentioning the 4^th dimension of time. Many scientists often add time to the other 3 dimensions in our world. We can be in the same place but at a different time, and that could also have relevance to our lives and change our thinking. For example, you could go back to a place that you once lived a long time ago, and while it might look the same, it would not be the same. It is because of changes in the people who live there, changes in the culture, physical changes in the neighborhood, or other changes over time. People’s attitudes and beliefs also change over time. So, time impacts our world – the way people see it and what they believe.

But God is timeless, and His standards of truth, light and good never change (Malachi 3:6). Truth will still be truth. Light will still be light. Good will still be good. And His grace will still be available, as long as Jesus has yet to return as promised in Scripture. We are warned to be ready for that day, lest we find ourselves without His standard for salvation due to our unbelief (Matthew 25:13).

Without the spiritual dimension of God in our lives we are destined for destruction. So, let us have faith in Jesus (John 3:16), accept God’s Truth (John 8:32), walk in God’s Light (Isaiah 2:5), and cling to what is good (Romans 12:9). And not only right now, but also in the time we have left!!