But once again, I am so loving Narnia. I've limited my rantings and delvings to once per book so far - not sure if I can keep it limited like that for the whole 7 book series, but I'll try to not go overboard.
So Mia and I are onto the Dawn Treader (very excited about the movie coming out - only hoping that it will be English with subtitles instead of dubbed in Spanish..... and I'm a little teeny bit nervous about what they will, inevitably, change from the book.).
Anywho....
In Chapter 6, Eustace (what a very unfortunate name!) turns into a dragon. He found a dragon's hoard, and being the selfish, down-right rotten boy he was, claimed it as his own. As a result of this, he turned into a dragon. Of course, this ends up being a good thing as he starts to turn from being a complete jerk to someone much more kind.... it is really too bad he didn't get a name change to better suit his nicer personality - kinda like Abram to Abraham, Saul to Paul, that kind of thing....
Okay, focus, Carla.
So he is a dragon.
In Chapter 7, Eustace has an encounter with Aslan and is changed back into a boy. Aslan told him to "undress"; to take off his dragon-self. It sounded like a fairly easy thing to do.
Well, Eustace does. Or, rather, he tries. He takes off his dragon skin, walks away from it, only to discover that he is still a dragon. He tries again, and again,... each attempt with no more progress than before.
Finally, Aslan tells him "You will have to let me undress you", so in fear of the pain but with desperation, Eustace lies down and lets him. This is what happens:
"The very first tear he made was so deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I've ever felt. The only thing that made me able to bear it was just the pleasure of feeling the stuff peel off...... he peeled the beastly stuff right off - just as I thought I'd done it myself the other three times, only they hadn't hurt - and there it was lying on the grass: only ever so much thicker, and darker, and more knobbly-looking than the others had been. And there I was as smooth and soft as a peeled switch and smaller than I had been." Eustace was a boy once again.
Isn't this just like Christ does with us?
I can make as many attempts as I want to change myself to be something better. I try to do all I can in my power to get rid of my ugliness, my ick, my dark, knobbly sin, but I can't get rid of it. I may feel slightly better initially after an attempt, but I just end up being the same old dragon. Alone, I simply can not get rid of my "old self".
But Christ can.
He can undress us out of our old, thick, dark, ugly sinful self and make us something new. It will/does hurt. He has to tear deep, dig into our hearts and it will hurt worse than anything. But then He will remove it and He will dress us in our "new self".
Now, just like Eustace wasn't instantly a perfect person, we won't be either. But because he knew where he had come from, he worked at his new self. And he hated being a dragon.
Again it is the same with us in Christ. Yes, He peels away all our crud and gives us newness, but we still have to work, with His strength, to stay away from our dragonish tendencies. It won't always be easy and sometimes it might be easier to be a dragon, but we are new and beautiful in Him.
One other thing.
Our sinfulness, our old self, our dragon that He gets rid of for us? If we turn around and look at it, will truly be thicker, darker, and more knobbly-looking than what we ever attempted to remove on our own. I think that is like my sin. I often don't think I really get how awful it is. Do I see it for what it is - a gross ugly mass that was weighing me down and making me a dragon?
If we don't let Christ dig away at our sin, I don't think we will ever realize how horrible our sin really is. And even though I am writing all of this and love this illustration that C. S. Lewis gives, I'm not sure that I really get how horrible my sin is - past and present.
I am much too cavalier when it come to sin.
I think if I really did get it, it would cause me to fall on my knees a whole lot more, surrender myself a whole lot more fully to the power and righteousness of Christ, and turn away.... no run away, from sin.
And I think that if we get it, if we let Him remove our yuck, we will see that we really are smaller than we were, or at least thought we were... just like Eustace. Humility, through seeing how wretched we are apart from Jesus, will do that to a person!
Good thing God is patient with me, and gives me the grace everyday to start over. And regardless of whether I am having a real dragonish day, He still sees me as a new person, through Christ, His righteousness and His work.
Thank you Lord!
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