Once again I have failed to be as frequent as intended, and (especially) since we are coming upon the holiday season, I will not even attempt to try to foresee the time between entries. Regardless of the space between them, I do very strongly intend to continue this blogging endeavor. I apologize for any who have wished there was less of a delay, but alas for the time being: another entry.
These thoughts were inspired by C. S. Lewis' book: The Cronicles of Narnia - The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
More so than the other books in this series, it is presenting situations that directly mirror our Christian walk. Many people regard the Narnia series as allegorical to some level, and these passages especially seem to be so. You may find it helpful to re-read the sections mentioned (or read them for the fist time) to better interact with my monologue. The passage I would like to reference is:
Chapter 7: How the Adventure Ended
Shedding skin.
For those who never knew or have forgotten, Eustace was a dreadful rotten little brat up until this point in the story. What had happened to change him? Well, he was changed into a dragon and Aslan saved him. I think it is apparent and clear that Eustace's transformation into a dragon was simply the result of his inward rottenness. Lewis supports this by saying "Sleeping on a dragon's hoard with greedy dragonish thoughts in his heart, he had become a dragon himself (Ch. 6)." So it seems that the dragon appearance of the boy was his heart manifesting itself as his body.
After much humiliation, regret and pain Eustace is more than ready to become a boy again. One night Aslan comes to him and offers him salvation from his beastly form, and although this is his first time meeting (or believing in) Aslan, he obeys. Aslan commands him to remove his skin (like a snake shedding). He does this only to find another layer of scales, and repeats this process a couple more times. After several repetitious and futile attempts to remove himself from his scaled form, Aslan says that Eustace will have to trust Aslan and let him do it. The boy describes the process as a very painful one that is mixed with an odd pleasure, compared to picking a scab. Regardless, unlike his futile attempts, Aslan's is successful.
This passage strongly reminds me of struggles with sin and self improvement. When there is some vile thing in our life, it will continue to grow until it either catches our attention or hinders/ruins things in our life (usually not in that order) be it plans or relationships. It is often here where we know there's an opportunity for obedience, but it isn't an easy process. When one who is seeking to be clean of some filth in there life tries to achieve righteousness on their own without first receiving Christ's aid, insisting that they can do it them-self, they usually do as good of a job as Eustace managed. They do a whole lot of work, and feel as if they have made progress, only to realize, when they look back at their task they are no better of than when they started, having wasted both time and energy.
When the Lion told Eustace that he would have to trust him to do what he would. Eustace job was to be patient and obedient through the challenge. I think it is clear in here that it presents that we are never the one who actually makes the changes in our life. We must be obedient, and we must be willing to trust God. Without Him doing the pealing of the skin, we will never find real improvement. The two concepts I am highlighting are first that we must be willing to let God work, and secondly that it is God the one who does the transforming.
Joshua 24:15 ...choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Ezekiel 36:26 "And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh."
Galatians 5
This one is short, yes I know, but it was on my mind. It is likely (no promises) that I will do another post in reference to Narnia. We can pretend it is in tribute to the movie release, but it is more just because I am reading the series.
For the King,
~Andrew Voigt
12/4/10
Joshuaspromise.blogspot.com
