The Parable of the Twisted Tree
There was once a pastor who had a zeal for holiness. They desired that everyone they encountered would experience holiness and transformation of the Holy Spirit. This desire was good, but as with all desire, sometimes the desire itself becomes the goal rather than transformation.
It began with a small speck. That speck felt a bit uncomfortable, but it helped the pastor to focus upon those things they felt were most important. Holiness itself began to be less important than a particular expression of holiness. Focusing upon that expression eased the discomfort of the speck. But the speck grew.
Maybe the speck caused a blindness toward the work of the Spirit outside particularities, but the very idea of holiness began to shrink for the pastor as the speck sprouted outward beginning to form a sapling. Some fellow pastors noticed that sapling and mentioned that it may become a problem. But the sapling was really helping holiness to come into focus.
As the sapling grew outward it began to slowly close off entire paths of holiness from vision. The blindness caused anger in the pastor whenever those paths would come into view. Those paths must be wrong for they only show up in other spaces. The desire for holiness drove the pastor to attack others who shared a passion for holiness but went about it differently. How dare those other pastors engage with those who disagree about holiness. They attempted to have those pastors uprooted from their flocks. They desired that the shepherds be sent packing if they would not conform to the narrow vision seen past the tree.
The tree grew larger and began to close off even more paths of holiness. Others mentioned the tree because it was large enough that it began to strike and harm others who were inviting people to experience the holiness of God. But alas, the tree had become so ingrained that any thought of removing it struck fear in the pastor’s heart. Plus, it appeared that the vision through the tree was true. A few pastors had been excluded from the larger flock. Some even moved their pasture elsewhere because that tree could really hurt.
The pastor railed against those who saw different paths than were available to them through the vision of the tree. There were demands that more pastors be shunned. The tree even allowed the pastor to engage and promote people who disagreed with important doctrines of he larger flock. But those were no longer the most important things. Once accusing a fellow pastor of allow someone who disagreed with holiness ideas, the pastor now invited some who disagreed on some of those same ideas. But it was okay because this was for the greater good of the true path of holiness.
The tree had become a large, twisted, and blinding growth that choked out the light of holiness to such an extent that the blindness became holiness for the pastor. Unable to see what God was doing in the world, the pastor retreated to a time that never existed looking for the perfection of holiness as the revealed through the tree. But that was a search in vain because what the tree revealed was only a small portion of the holiness God was pouring into the world. Anger, spite, and vehemence became the calling card of the tree for that was all anyone could see when looking toward the pastor.
But oh did the tree allow focus to exist when seeing specks in the eyes of others. If one observed an interaction from afar it was a darkly comical vision of a tree smacking into a poor soul attempting to clear out their eyes.