In my various roles, I find myself daily helping several people face their problems. Most of the issues these individuals encounter are related to material or immaterial things such as money, houses, cars, businesses, work, diplomas, social status, privileges, promotions, and many similar things. The unfortunate observation I regularly make is that these things I just mentioned, or their lack, manage to create dysfunction in the lives of my interlocutors, to the point where some contemplate seriously harming themselves and others through divorce, quarrels, crimes, and even suicide.

These ways of acting or reacting are certainly contrary to the will of the One who created us. The truth is that God created us to experience peace and joy permanently. A human being can only experience this permanent peace if they have a proper perception of things, that is, if they see material and immaterial things as God sees them.

“Rejoice always.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11

We all have an interest in having the right perception if we want to access the higher quality of life to which God has predestined us. The good news for all of us is that God has not hidden His perception of things from us. He wants us to know how He perceives things so that we may adopt this way of seeing. This is how we will begin to experience permanent peace and joy.

Reading and meditating on the Holy Scriptures have allowed me to identify three truths concerning the divine perception of material and immaterial things. The first truth is that God sees all things as inferior to human beings. The second truth is that all things must serve human beings and not the other way around. The third truth I have identified is that it is humans who have the power to name things, that is, the power to give them the value or qualification they desire.

Things are inferior to Man.

The Divine Order.

The first chapter of the Gospel according to John begins by reminding us that in the beginning was the Word. The author of this Gospel continues by saying that everything was made through the Word and that nothing that has been made was made without it.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made.” John 1:1-3

This verse reminds us that everything exists and is governed by law. The law defines what is and what is not. Without the law, things make no sense. The act of taking what does not belong to you without the owner’s permission is called theft only because a legislator has said so (the Word). Before the legislator spoke of it, theft did not exist.

Studying law has allowed me to understand, for example, that for a country to exist, it needs a law (Word). The founders of the country take on the role of legislators and define the rules that will govern the functioning of this country, to which they will also give a name. All the words they proclaim about the future country and its functioning will be recorded in a document called the constitution. Once the international law rules for recognizing a state are respected, the future state can exist according to what the founders defined.

Everyone living in this new country will have to comply with the words of the legislators of that country, or else they will face sanctions according to the Word. The Word of God is much more than a state’s constitution. It is the constitution of constitutions because God is the only legislator…

This text is an excerpt from the book “THE DIVINE PERCEPTION: Perceiving Well to Succeed Better” written by Dominique MBOG.

We invite you to read the following article “Perception and Reality.“