The Sky is Yellow

by Jonathan Daugherty

One night at dinner, during the normal noisiness of everyone eating and talking and laughing, Megan (my  youngest) was in especially fine form. She was talking silly and just making everyone laugh with her antics. In the middle of our fun, as I was laughing, I blurted out sarcastically with rolled eyes, "What color is the sky in your world, Megan?" Without missing a beat, she replied with an immediate seriousness, "Yellow."

I have to admit I was stunned with her quick response, not expecting her to answer the question at all and especially not with such an unusual reply. Well, you can imagine the laughter that ensued after she frankly revealed the apparently very real "color" of the sky in her "world." It was a good family memory and left us all with sore abs and wet eyes from laughing so hard.

But as is always the case in these moments in my life with my kids, somehow a nugget of deeper truth lodged itself into my mind. In this case, I got to thinking about this "world" of Megan's that seemed so vivid and real in her mind, but appeared nothing like the world in which we live (in case you were wondering, the sky is primarily blue in our world; although, it can have shades of yellow at sunrise and sunset). As I pondered this alternate world of hers, I was reminded that God has said that as His child I am an alien and stranger on this planet. My true home is a place outside the dimensions of reality I can sense in this body, a home in the "heavenly places in Christ Jesus."

What would I say if someone came up to me and asked, whether jokingly or seriously, "What color is the sky in your world?" Would I even recognize the difference between what I can only see, touch, or taste and the "real world" of my spiritual home as one bought by the blood of Jesus and sealed by the Spirit of God for an eternity with Him?

You see, God's view of life, galaxies, "worlds" if you will, is not confined to our limited dimensions of experience. He is both outside and throughout time and space. When He says that I am "seated in the heavenlies" as a child of His, this is a reality that I cannot fully comprehend right now, but it is true nonetheless. And it is that reality of such a spiritual dimension in Christ that I must embrace and allow to shape and direct my life if I am to truly live as God intended.

Too many believers pass through life without regard to their true home, their real world in Christ. And with such a limited perspective, they miss the great abundant life Jesus said He came to bring. Such abundant life is only realized when the believer lives from the paradigm of the new creation God made him to be by faith in Christ. From such a new, radical vantage point, the believer sees even life in this world from a whole new perspective. No longer is life about the body or food or wealth or fame or any other material need or want. Life becomes beautifully colored by the brilliance, grace, and truth of God's eternal love and purpose for us, His prized creation.

And then you see it, but only when you look up: the sky! The majestic, breathtaking expanse of something so amazing, so unbelievable, you have to pinch yourself to see if you are dreaming (only to realize that your senses don't quite respond the same in the spiritual realm). You see, the "sky" in God's world is Himself. He is brilliant, blinding light, so captivating you can't help but long to gaze upon His glory forever. And that suits Him just fine. After all, that's what you were made for...