They are not of the world, just as
not of the world.
John 17:16
When I was walking in the woods today, I saw a group of teenagers in costume, larping. (For those of you who don't know what that is, it stands for live action role playing.)
There were weapons and wigs, blue hair and other fantastical elements. I attempted to say hello, but they vigilantly avoided eye - contact. Maybe they felt embarrassed. I'm sure they've been teased, belittled and misunderstood.
They looked odd, but I wasn't bewildered by their childlike hobby or lifestyle. I may have been, once upon a time. If I could, I would tell them that their harkening to be someone from somewhere else is as natural as the skin over their bones. Though many get it twisted, we weren't made for this place.
Sin separated us from a holy God and brought corruption into our bodies. It invited the veil of death into what was made to be a very different earth.
The answer isn't to escape into a fantastical identity, though I believe that stories can have important places in the lives of kids and adults alike. The answer to our desires is to enter into the ultimate reality – the Kingdom of Heaven, through the narrow gate of Jesus Christ.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12
Whether they know it or not, these larpers were grasping at something more true than gravity -- the battle of good versus evil. A God given desire to look beyond this dry, dead world and into something more. Someone more. A supernatural God. And a dynamic adventure that focuses, not on what is seen and temporary, but on what is unseen and eternal (1 Cor. 4:18).
The word of God is the most dramatic and epic book ever written. Because God himself, the author of our creative hearts and minds, wrote it. It's in Him, that we discover who we really are.
Our sinful, fallen nature finds replacements for the desires that God has given us for the truth. They are poison at worst and crumbs at best, compared to the real thing.
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Colossians 3:2