Abstract Faith

“As it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, / Nor have entered into the heart of man / The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
- 1 Corinthians 2:9

G.K. Chesterton once wrote, “The vision is always a fact, it is the reality that is often times a fraud.” (Orthodoxy, 1908, John Lane Company)

Pablo Picasso was once riding a train in Spain when another rider recognized him. The passenger walked over to Picasso and asked, “Señor Picasso, you are a great artist, but why is all your art, all modern art, so screwed up? Why don’t you paint reality instead of these distortions?”

Picasso responded with a question, “So what do you think reality looks like?”

The man grabs his wallet and pulls out a photograph of his wife. He says, “Here, like this. It’s my wife.”

Picasso takes the photograph, looks at it and grins. He simply responds, “Really? She’s very small. And flat, too.”

There is a huge difference between what is real and what just looks real. In our simplistic minds, we try to distill everything down to manageable ideas which seem real. However, when we do this with our God, it always ends up being way too small and flat. We were never meant to grasp the fullness of God in this world. The Word of God shows us a vision, then we often try to boil it down into something real and tangible and miss out. We miss out on the fact that He desires to be so much more in our lives. He desires to do so much more through our lives. The vision is a fact. Our reality is often a fraud.

Abstract art is not for everyone. In the case of Picasso, many of his works aimed at catching a three-dimensional vision on a two-dimensional canvas. To cast of vision from all sides of the subject at once. Or to see the image in ways not seen with the eyes. How sad it is when we take the eternal-dimensional vision of God and try to limited it to our earthly-dimensional sight.

Our verse today declares that we cannot even begin to imagine the fullness of God’s vision for our lives. Yet, we constantly try to constrain Him to work in our “reality.”

1 Corinthians 13:12 goes on to say, “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.”

Don’t become obsessed with your own “reality” in the mirror, like Narcissus (from Greek mythology who became obsessed with his own reflection; thus the term “narcissism”). Yes, even there we can see God working in our lives, dimly. But it is the obsession we have with ourselves that prevents us from peering beyond the mirror. Allowing God to be more than a small, flat image in our lives. To break the bounds of reality, grasp ahold of the vision and see the abstract vision of who God is from multiple perspectives all at the same time.

We will never grasp the fullness of God in this world. But you don’t have to have a handle on who God is. You just have to know He has a handle on who you are.

As our verse today says, “As it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, / Nor have entered into the heart of man / The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9)

Allow Him to show you the vision of who He is and who He created you to be. It won’t fit in a picture. Nor will it fit in a life-improvement plan or a 10-year goal. It is radical and abstract. Because it is not something that can be fully displayed in this world. It is abstract for this world, because the vision is eternal. It is greater than anything we can imagine. And that’s a fact. All we are called to do is love Him and trust Him.

© 2026 Warren Martin. All rights Reserved.