At a recent visit to a local university, I saw a group of students in medieval dress, flailing at each other with foam swords and shields, battle-axes and spears. Live Action Role-Play—LARPing for short. These students were practicing a version called Dagorhir. And it’s growing.
Hundreds spend their weekends at local LARP events battling for glory in mythical lands. Depending on the version, participants assume any variety of fantasy roles: elf mercenaries, warrior mages, treacherous sorcerers, or, really, any mythical creature the imagination can conjure. Some truly lose themselves in LARP constructions. Why? Because, they confess, their real lives are boring. Accounting majors double as deposed princesses; data-entry staffers transform into chivalrous knights.
Please do not assume that I’m mocking the LARPers—delusions abound in every diversion. “Elite” youth sports, for example, are fantastical. The price-tag starts at $3,500 annually (not including gas, weekend travel, and equipment), and the time commitment approaches religious devotion: “we require total parent participation; uninvolvement is unacceptable.” The results? Well, let’s just say elite programs won’t market even a 1% chance of an Olympic landing or a Major League at-bat.
The above examples are not necessarily sinful, but they easily lose perspective. And perspective is probably the most valuable commodity in our sin-cursed existence. This world in general, and American culture in particular, cloaks the make-believe with authenticity. I’m always tempted to roll my eyes when I hear a self-proclaimed Millennial stake an exclusive claim to genuineness. “Have some respect for Gen-Xers, you little punk—we invented authentic.” I jest, of course.
The Bible tells us that true authenticity is impossible apart from the gospel. Why? The god of this world, the emperor of the here and now, “blinds the minds of unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel” (2 Cor. 4:4). Our great adversary masterfully perpetuates the illusions of this world by masquerading as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14). Sin, which actively deceives (Heb. 3:13), convinces us that we can reap differently than we sow (Gal. 6:7) and pursue consequences other than death (James 1:14-16). False teachers, eager to line their pockets (2 Pet. 2:3), lead people astray by questioning cardinal doctrines (1 Cor. 15:32-34; 2 Jn. 2:7), by adding to the gospel (Tit. 1:10-11), or, in the other extreme, by deceiving with signs and wonders (Mt. 24:24; 2 Thess. 2:9).
So profound are these deceptions that the Bible describes us as blind people stumbling through darkness (Is. 59:10; John 3:19). Even when God grants re-born eyes, the best we can muster is to “see in a mirror dimly” (1 Cor. 13:12). Scripture reminds us over and again that our perspective is irreparably warped this side of eternity—we struggle not against flesh and blood, but principalities and powers (Eph. 6:12); faith awaits an unseen, heavenly city (Heb. 11:16); Jesus exhorts us not to lay up treasures in the here and now, but to make heavenly investments (Matt. 6:19-20).
In God’s goodness, certain events make perspective a little easier. For example, I’m writing this piece with a heavy heart—my dear grandmother passed away on Friday last week. When we brush up against eternity, perspective comes a little easier, which is probably why the wisest man in the Old Testament explained it’s better to go to a funeral than to a party (Ecc. 7:2).
So how do gain clarity when everything around us is ephemeral vanity?
1. Remember that Jesus, the Light of the world, broke through the darkness to reveal in human flesh the glory of God (John 1:1-18; 8:12; 2 Cor. 4:6).
Jesus Christ is the great Reality. Paul affirmed that the Athenian poets were right at least once: “In Him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28). We can know authentically, not because we can ascend or find authority in ourselves, but because the true Light descended.
2. Recalibrate our ambitions, occupations, and diversions by the light of the true Light (Ps. 119:105).
Some readers might be tempted to take this exhortation to the extreme, claiming that we should feel guilt whenever we have fun. Recalibrate doesn’t mean eliminate. On the contrary, God’s Word specifically commands us to enjoy certain things: family, fellowship, and creation, to name just a few. The chief end of man, according to the first catechism, is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.
3. Recast ourselves according to the Redeemer whose image we bear (Gen. 1:26; Col. 3:10).
Since we are so prone to stumble blindly in the darkness, and since Jesus is the great Reality who made us in his image, the only way to truly know ourselves is to study the One who “has delivered us from the domain of darkness” (Col. 1:14). Paul calls this act “redemption”—Jesus Christ bought us from Satan’s domain at the cost of his own blood (Heb. 9:12). Our sight does not come cheap.
Do you crave the genuine? The truly authentic? Do you want to know who you are and where you belong in this big world? Learn Jesus Christ, the Light, the great Reality. You bear his image. In him alone you’ll discover your true self.
