Trees and authentic Christianity. (Part 2)

Ten Looks at the wound is worth one look at the physician. We cannot transform ourselves. Attempting to do so is what makes our Christian life inauthentic. We go through the motions and thereby keep our faith lukewarm at best. Several weeks ago, I shared with you the story of Brass for Gold as found in 2 Chronicles 12. Shishak of Egypt had plundered all the gold shields and other items from the temple and Rehoboam kept up appearances by substituting them for brass and maintaining the parade. We do that!

To build a relationship with Jesus Christ we must declare war against whatever worldly entanglements keep us from daily fellowship with him. Having full time jobs can make this difficult. My teaching profession is fraught with time consuming activites. But we must buck the agendas and values of society and slow down long enough to commune with Him.

We can only begin to live the way Jesus lived if we devote ourselves to the same disciplines He practiced: solitude and silence, prayer, simple and sacrificial living, intense study and meditation upon God’s word and God’s way of service to others. If Jesus pursued these disciplines to maintain spiritual authenticity, how much also should we. Here was a man on a mission! The essence of authentic Christianity says Peter is to walk in His footsteps. (1 Peter 2:21)

Here is a story that has counsel for us all. Alfred Lord Tennyson was walking with his friend, Edward Fitzgerald, on Regent St in London. They stopped at a display of famous busts and studied them for a while. Fitzgerald broke the silence and asked, “What is it that is in the presence of Dante’s face and not in Goethe’s”

               Tennyson responded, “The divine.”

Dante had tremendous spiritual insight in his poetic works. He understood humanities battle with evil. The first 60 lines of “The Divine Comedy” has insights for us all. Using Jeremiah 5:6, Dante tells the story of him being in a forest, when he suddenly becomes aware of his spiritual condition: “In the midway of this mortal life, I found me in a gloomy wood astray.” These are 3 powerful words: “I found me.” This echoes the prodigal son’s moment of truth. Ahead and out of reach was the sunlit mountain top, which was a vision of the life he would like to be living, and so he turns his steps towards it.

Suddenly from the forest comes a leopard. He has scarcely recovered from that encounter when a lion leaps upon him. No sooner had he fended off the lion, that he noticed a she wolf trailing him. So appalling was her coming that the poet lost all hope.

This account of life represents the 3 varieties of evil. If one does not deter us in our progress to the sunlit hill, then another speedily presents itself. Dante gives us the three beasts in significant order.

The leopard represents lust, which is the besetting temptation of youth. The poet loved the beauty of the leopard “Nimble, light and covered with a speckled skin.” He is entranced by the gorgeous skin of that swift animal in the morning dawn, and the sweet season.” The sins of our youth have their own enchantment wrapped in the smooth talk of beauty. The glamourous temptations are hard to define, and harder to resist. They are overlaid with youthful idealism and innocence.

Next comes the lion, representing the vast and far-reaching sin of pride. These are the sins of our vigorous mature years. Having made our way in the world, the triumphs become too much for us. He who has beaten the leopard must “take heed lest he fall under the paw of the lion.” (1 Cor 10:12). Our years of achievement and success leave an open invitation to the lion of pride.

Finally, comes the she wolf of greed and avarice. She creeps up behind persistently stalking us. Now self-interest and covetousness are close to our hands and hearts. Such are the pitfalls of later life.

Dante’s masterful piece of poetry unmasks the full range of temptation. As James says in James 1:14-15, we are tempted by our own desire.

So, WE wander in the gloomy woods, constant victims of the schemes of the devil. We are close to the clearing. The sun lit mountain of Christs return is just beyond. The last bit of scripture tells us that just before that comes the worst. Like Dante we look at the sunlit hill of eternity and know we cannot reach it alone. Dante found no direct route open. He had to detour down the paths of suffering and repentance. He had to avoid the beasts, until finally, with tears of joy it all culminated in paradise where he stood before the throne of God.

Only by travelling the same road can we escape the gloomy forest of error and the ravening beasts that are the schemes of the devil. This is the path of authentic Christianity.

Persevere through the trials of life – the unspeakable wonder of the “sunlight hill” is just beyond.