What happens when people step away from perceived reality for a moment? When Steve Jobs, one of the legendary founders of Apple, saw his staff and developers up against what seemed to be an impossible task, he singlehandedly created what was described as "Steve's reality distortion field." Through passion, drive, hyperbole and sheer energy of personality, Jobs had the capacity to make people believe that the impossible was attainable.

Oftentimes this "reality distortion field" worked, as Apple engineers created "impossible" products like the Mac, the iPhone and the iPad, all near-wondrous devices that we pretty much today take for granted. Highly intelligent and trained people would say – according to conventional wisdom – that something couldn't be done, and that was that. "No it isn't," Jobs would say, and go about creating a reality distortion field where traditional thoughts and beliefs were stretched and changed where engineers and professionals started, in the words of Apple, to "think different." The impossible became possible, and, well, the rest is history. You may even be reading this on an Apple product that came directly from one of those "reality distortion fields."

These "reality distortion fields" are not limited to what Steve Jobs created. The same phenomenon is said to have been created by politicians and at least one American President, where human charisma inflates facts and reality, and leads people to believe that which is not true.

While a positive effect can be achieved through positive leadership and the healthy enabling of people to see beyond the moment, the creation of a negative "reality distortion field" can lead to deception and pathological delusion. People can become self-deceived, believing a lie and ultimately living it.

Unchecked and undisciplined human thought can quickly lead to a host of challenges, as God warns: "My thoughts are not your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:8). 

But God also wants to grasp what true reality really is: "For as the heavens are higher than the earth [as the universe expands millions of light years beyond our human comprehension], so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts higher than your thoughts" (verse nine).

Limited by our human senses and capacity of thought, we can inadvertently limit our perception of God and His mighty power.  When Jesus Himself described to His disciples what it took to enter the Kingdom of God, they were astonished. The reply of Jesus? "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26).

When we read these words, do we believe them? Or do we dilute them with our own self-taught dimmed view of reality?

Oftentimes the Bible tells of us of the need to open our eyes, to restore our spiritual sight and to see things for what they really are.  We are told to look into a spiritual mirror – the "perfect law of liberty" (James 1:25) – and see ourselves as we really are: flawed humans in need of God's grace and strength (Romans 3:23-24), opened to us by Christ our Passover.

What happens when we come upon a rock we can't lift, when we face what is impossible for us? As Christians, we call upon and yield to God, claiming His unbreakable promises of true reality. "My God," declared the apostle Paul to the Philippians and to us today, "shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19). What was Paul's reality? "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (verse 13).

God wants us to step outside of our rationalized and minimized perceptions and see what reality truly is. We are told "not to be conformed to this world" – to a limited human way of thinking – but to "be transformed through the renewing of your mind" Romans 12:2). How much of a transformation are we capable of? Consider that the same Greek word used for "transformation" in Romans 12:2 is the same as what was used in describing the transfiguration miracle of Christ, where His face "shone like the sun, and His clothes become white as the light" (Matthew 17:2). Indeed, God's mind is much higher than ours!

If you're faced with a grievous challenge today, consider what might be a distorted view of reality in what you're facing and what God's view of reality might be.  Sometimes you might be surprised to find that what you found to be impossible, God finds to be quite the opposite.  May we pray as Paul prayed, that we may be spiritually enlightened – in tune and in touch with God's true reality – about God's "incomparably great power for us who believe"! (Ephesians 1:17,19, New International Version).