When we shift the authority to which we answer from what has proven to be true to something new, even out of curiosity, we risk skewing our personal sense of direction.
I briefly mentioned this parallel/thought in class on Thursday but continued to see the connection as I finished reading Tartuffe this weekend. Orgon had apparently once listened to the counsel of his family, at least as evidenced by their willingness to mention their concerns to him about Tartuffe. Before Orgon realized his mistake, he had given himself to fully allowing Tartuffe and his opinions to have full authority over his life. This shift to an uncertain authority led to strife in Orgon’s household and almost losing his estate, leading his family to be homeless, the position in which Orgon assumed to have found Tartuffe originally.
If you are a believer and a follower of Christ, you have decided that God and His Word will have the ultimate authority over your life. We are to daily take up our cross and follow Christ where He leads. However, like Orgon, we can go astray when we shift our authority from what has been trusted (like Orgon’s family) to what is not true and is deceitful (such as Tartuffe). We must keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, so we don’t stumble and fall into sin or spiral into confusion because we tried to walk through this life alone. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your straight your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6, ESV) While it is okay to challenge tradition and look for evidence of God’s truths in our own lives, it is important that we don’t plunge so deep into the questions that we are as Orgon, “wrought…up to the point of seeing everything without believing anything.” (Molière, 40)
Our faith can’t be borrowed from our parents or our church if we want to be able to stand firm when life circumstances, questions about God/Christianity, and trials bring us to a point where we must choose to follow God or try to solve our problems and answer our questions on our own. Our faith must be our own and we have to know what we believe and why we believe it. We have to decide what authority we are going to allow rule our lives.
Will we choose to continue to trust what has proven to be trustworthy or venture out and bring false understanding into our “homes”: our minds and hearts? Do you think we have to get to a point of surrendering the authority of our lives to either God’s truth or our own?
I commented on Kayla and Madison's posts.
Comments