When reality is not the truth!

Is this photo upside down?

Deep in the verdant mountain forests on the West Coast of New Zealand’s South Island there is a mysterious and picturesque body of water, Lake Matheson, named after a pioneering family. The lake formed in an ancient glacial depression when the near-by Fox Glacier retreated thousands of years ago.  The lake is known to the indigenous people of New Zealand, Maori, as Te Ara Kairaumati

This beautiful lake captures the heart of most who visit it, and has likely made more money for the Kodak empire than any other geographical feature in our fair and much photographed country.To stand and stare at the serene waters on a still day is truly a "Kodak Moment"

The rugged beauty of the region is legend, the entire area is now a World Heritage Park. The two major glaciers in the region are unique in the world; nowhere else do glaciers reach so close to the sea in a temperate region.The podocarp-hardwood forests are a living link with a distant past. In their undisturbed state they are luxuriant and often present a distinctly tropical character, with a dense undergrowth of shrubs, ferns, tree-ferns, lianas and epiphytes and our tiny native orchid. These trees often reach an impressive girth and equally impressive age. Many of these ancient trees were already mature when the Battle of Hastings changed England's history forever in 1066.

Lake Matheson rests at the base of our highest mountains, and on clear, windless day visitors are greeted by a stunning visual illusion. The tannin stained waters provide a perfect mirror image of the forests that climb the lower faces of Mt Cook and Mt Aspiring, rising majestically beyond the lake. The mountains themselves are reflected in the water, but they seem to disappear into the depths, rather than rising heavenward. On a clear moonlit night the effect is almost spectral, especially when a mist rises off the cool water and shrouds the image in an otherworldly light.  

When looking a photograph of the view, most people find it difficult to work out which is the right side up. Many a print company has made the mistake of printing the photographs of the lake upside-down, and we once had a set of table place-mats where the photo of the lake was upside-down and transposed left to right. 

Oftentimes our view of things in the spiritual realm is but a reflection of reality; we see things and assume them to be truth when, in fact what we are seeing nothing more than a ghostly apparition.

Peter experienced this when our Lord told him that he would deny Him (Jesus) three times before cockcrow. I am sure that Peter’s head and emotions said “no way”, but hidden deep within his heart lurked a sinister truth that needed to be rooted out. Peter’s faith was not the reality that Christ needed in order to establish His Kingdom, regardless how resolute that Peter thought his faith was.

Doubtless, Peter saw his faith as a substantial thing, he assured Jesus that he would stand beside Him come “hell or high-water” Jesus said to him, Truly I say to you that this night, before the cock crows, you shall deny Me three times. Peter said to Him, though I should die with You, yet I will not deny You. All the disciples also said the same. Matthew 26:34-35

Yet just an hour or two later Peter’s faith was already waning… “And He went a little further and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will. And He came to the disciples and found them asleep. And He said to Peter, What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?” Matthew 26:39-40

Oh, how often have we been in a similar situation? We promise to commit ourselves to some godly project, or to pray for a certain situation until the crisis is passed, only to find that a few days later something else attracts us and our commitment evaporates.  We, like Peter and the other disciples, need to have the sometimes harsh reality of our world exposed…. Just 12 hours or so after they fell asleep in the garden Jesus was hanging on a cross, and their world was in turmoil. The “mirror image” that they were looking at was violently shattered and all of them, not just Peter, faced the biggest challenge of their lives.

Is our faith grounded in reality, or is it a “reality” that is not based upon truth?