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The Aftermath of Salvation

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From Existence to Reality

The Truth that Can Set Us Free

I remember watching The Truman Show, the movie starring Jim Carrey. It tells the story of Truman, a man who has unknowingly spent his entire life inside a giant television set. From the time he was a child, his entire world had been created around him. His home, his neighbors, his job, even the people he loved were all part of the show. His entire life was being filmed and broadcast to the world as entertainment.

But eventually, Truman begins to notice things that don't quite make sense. Little by little, he starts to question the world around him. He begins to realize that the life he thought was real wasn't real at all. And once he sees the truth, he can't unsee it.

That movie struck me because, strangely, that's what getting saved felt like for me.

I reached a point where I began to see that the world wasn't what I thought it was. The shine started to fade. What once looked exciting began to look gray. The things I had chased after didn't seem as important anymore. Something was missing, and I finally began to realize what it was.

Then Jesus came into my life—and it was like someone turned on the lights.

Suddenly, I could see.

I realized I had been living inside a kind of bubble, just like Truman. I thought I was free, but I was actually trapped. I thought I understood life, but I had never really seen the truth.

Jesus showed me a reality I had never seen before.

It was like walking through a dark room my entire life and suddenly having someone turn on the lights. The room didn't necessarily change—but I could finally see what had been there all along.

What I thought was color became richer.

What I thought was important, I began to realize was temporary and empty.

What I had built my life around suddenly looked like a lie I had created to convince myself that I was living.

And the things I had overlooked—the things I had once thought were insignificant—became the things that mattered most.

It was as if I had been on life support my entire life, connected to a system that was keeping me going but never actually giving me life. I thought I was living because my heart was beating and I was moving and experiencing things. But I was missing something essential.

Then Jesus disconnected me from the machine.

He showed me what real life was.

I wasn't just experiencing the highs and lows of the world anymore. I had been introduced to something deeper, something that didn't depend on what the world could give me or take away from me.

I had found truth.

And once Truman discovered the truth about his world, he couldn't go back to pretending it was real.

That's what happened to me.

Once Jesus opened my eyes, I couldn't unsee it.

The world I had once been so comfortable living in suddenly wasn't enough anymore.

I had seen something greater.

I had found something real.

And for the first time, I wasn't just surviving inside the system of this world.

I was finally living.

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If you have come to salvation, your eyes should have been opened to that same truth.

The world should no longer have the same hold over you that it once did. The spell should be broken. You should begin to see what really matters: Jesus, His Kingdom, and the promise of eternal salvation.

But the battle doesn't end there.

Satan, the world, and our own flesh will constantly try to pull us back into the life we were rescued from. And sadly, sometimes we will fall for the lies. We will go back to the very things we once realized could never satisfy us.

The Bible gives us a pretty disturbing picture of this. It says it is like a dog returning to its own vomit.

“As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly.” — Proverbs 26:11

That's hard to hear—but maybe that's exactly why Scripture uses such a disgusting picture.

Because that's what sin does. We go back thinking, Maybe this time it will satisfy me. Maybe this time it will be different.

And for a moment, it might feel good.

It might give us pleasure. It might make us feel happy. It might give us the temporary satisfaction we were looking for.

But then the pleasure fades.

And what is left?

Emptiness. Guilt. Regret.

We find ourselves right back where we were before, wondering why we went back to something we already knew could never satisfy us.

Jesus opened our eyes for a reason.

He showed us that what we thought was life wasn't really life at all.

So why would we keep crawling back into the very thing He called us out of?

The world will keep calling.

The flesh will keep calling.

Satan will keep whispering that there is something back there worth having.

But we've already seen the truth.

Don't go back to the lie when you've already found the truth.

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But we've already seen the truth.

And once you have seen the truth, you have a choice.

You can walk back into the bubble and pretend it is real.

Or you can walk through the door.

Truman stood at the edge of the world he had always known. Everything behind him was familiar. It was comfortable. It was what he had been told was real his entire life. But now he knew the truth, and he couldn't stay.

I think that's what Jesus asks of us.

Once He opens our eyes, we can't keep living like we are still blind.

We can't keep calling the bubble freedom when we know it is a prison.

We can't keep calling the lie truth just because it is familiar.

And we can't keep going back to the things that left us empty when we have already tasted what it means to be truly alive.

Jesus didn't save us so we could stand at the door and keep looking back.

He saved us so we could walk out.

So when the world calls you back, remember what you saw when the lights came on.

Remember the emptiness.

Remember what life was like before you knew Him.

And then remember what happened when Jesus opened your eyes.

You saw the truth.

You found what you had been searching for.

You found the One who wasn't offering you another temporary high, another empty promise, or another thing that would leave you thirsty.

He offered you life.

Real life.

And maybe the question isn't whether you know the truth anymore.

Maybe the question is whether you are willing to live like it's true.

Because the world will keep building its bubbles.

It will keep painting them to look beautiful.

It will keep telling us that what is inside is all there is.

But we've seen beyond the walls.

We've seen the truth.

And once Jesus has opened your eyes, don't crawl back into the bubble.

Walk through the door.

Leave the lie behind.

Follow Jesus.

And finally—

live.

Don't go back to the lie when you've already found the truth, unless you have not.