Lessons from "The Chronicles of Narnia"

I've been reading "The Chronicles of Narnia" by C.S.Lewis as casual reading and boy does it bring different insights this time round...

For those who are not sure what I'm talking about, "The Chronicles of Narnia" is a series of 7 fantasy books which C.S.Lewis wrote specifically for children. Incorporated in these 7 books are many allusions to Christian ideas and aspects of Christian living. But instead of calling them allegorical, C.S.Lewis prefers to address the Christians aspects of these books as "suppositional". Whatever the case, as a Christian reading these books after many years, I was indeed refreshed by both the mystical and wonderful world of Narnia, as well as the lessons learnt from each individual book.

If you haven't read the books before, I suggest starting out with "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe" first. Why? 2 reasons... (1) Disney is releasing the movie version this December, and (2) C.S.Lewis intended it to be read as the first book as it introduces the most important aspect of the world of Narnia... and ours as ell.

Anyway, I'm now at the "Silver Chair" and the plot, in a nutshell, is about 2 children on a task to save a prince under the spell of an evil witch.

Without overspiritualising anything, I think I've picked up on one of the aspects of Christian living that C.S.Lewis wrote about. In the book, Aslan (an image of Christ) sent Jill Pole on the mission with these words: "But, first, remember, remember, rememeber the Signs. Say them to yourself when you wake up in the morning and when you lie down at night, and when you wake in the middle of the night. And whatever strange things may happen to you, let nothing turn your mind from following the Signs. " The Signs were 4 guiding points that Aslan gave Jill to help her in the quest of searching for the lost Prince of Narnia. (the heir to the throne) Predictably however, Jill lost the habit of repeating these Signs to herself. (due largely to both her personal pride and the many distractions on her journey) One of those distractions was simply the temptation of creature comforts, namely warm beds and hot soup. (this was a real temptation as their journey was filled with bland food and hard ground where they slept on)

Isn't Jill a lot like us? Where the guiding points in life are all mentioned in the Word of God, the Bible, and instead of meditating on it day and night (as we all must do) we forget and grow lazy. Coming up with excuses like, "Oh, due to mitigating circumstances.... blah, blah, blah..." Yes, we know that the Christian Walk is not an easy one but Christ, in all His grace and sovereignty, has already given us his word that He is always with us (Matt 28:20) and his word of instruction, the Bible.

So...

"[9] How can a young man keep his way pure?

By guarding it according to your word.

[10] With my whole heart I seek you;

let me not wander from your commandments!

[11] I have stored up your word in my heart,

that I might not sin against you.

[12] Blessed are you, O LORD;

teach me your statutes!

[13] With my lips I declare

all the rules of your mouth.

[14] In the way of your testimonies I delight

as much as in all riches.

[15] I will meditate on your precepts

and fix my eyes on your ways.

[16] I will delight in your statutes;

I will not forget your word."

Psalm 119:9-16 (ESV)

sub specie aeternitatis (in the light of eternity)

I would like to use this entry to summarise the past months.

I was hurt badly. Not a physical hurt but a deep emotional and somewhat spiritual hurt.

On hindsight, it has been a rocky road... a very rocky road. But I know that ultimately, that's what God wanted for me. He knows me infinitely well to know that only a path of emotional turmoil and hardship would wake me up from my slumber. I'm NOT on the road to recovery. Nope. It would be more accurate in saying that I'm on the road of maturity. My experiences have opened my eyes to the ways of this world and to the ways of God. Not that I know a lot more, but that I've grown. And not that I've grown in mere intellectual knowledge, but that I've grown as person--a sinner saved by grace. And I've experienced it all firsthand, and thus am able to assist a fellow brother or sister who might fall into a similar situation.

I disagree with the phrase "Time heals all wounds". For to me, time merely covers them up. I had to learn this the hard way too. There were too many days where the solution to dispelling thoughts and actions was to merely distract myself with other less personal, less soul-piercing thoughts. But that's not healing. And though my ignorant mind understood this, my foolish heart still managed to tangle itself with these... complications. Healing, I learnt, also didn't involve pouring out your feelings and thoughts to others. Not that that wasn't helpful, but I first approached it with a wrong focus. I poured out these feelings and thoughts in the hope of releasing "psychological & emotional stress". Yeah, I know... that sounded so stupid and silly. But God knew that for me to truely learn, I had to take the high and bumpy road. Certain lessons in life are best learnt by living it rather than by being taught it. And I've finally learnt some of these lessons, with both my mind and my heart, as to what healing is about.

Healing begins with surrender. Surrender to the infinite God... Surrender begins with the realisation that its NOT about us finding/searching/looking for our purpose in life...

Surrender begins with discovering who God is.

It then continues with aligning oneself to God, to Christ, to the gospel.

It's not as easy as it sounds, for we're all still imperfect, striving to be Christ-like. Even now, I still feel the pain from the past. But this pain now acts as a reminder of what I've learnt, a reminder of things things I've experienced, a reminder of God's grace to me. And I'm profoundly grateful to Him for that.

I was once again reminded of a proper focus in life when I was studying 1 Cor 9 for Bible Study last Saturday. I end of with a quote from the 1 Corinthians portion of the "Bible Speaks Today" Commentary series... in the hope that we might learn from Paul's example, "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ" (1 Cor 11:1):

"He(Paul) was living his daily life sub specie aeternitatis (ie. in the light of eternity), and that meant:

evangelism with integrity,
relationships with adaptability, and
personal holiness with single-mindedness."

sub specie aeternitatis

Give to God what is God's

Went for a talk last Thursday. It was titled "When life has lost its focus" and the speaker was Ravi Zacharias.

He pointed to a famous passage in the Bible--the issue of paying taxes to Caesar found in Mark 12:13-17 (ESV)

Here, one can see that the focus of the Pharisees & Herodians was to trap Jesus (v.13) and not to sincerely inquire of the issue of taxes. And after this plan was orchestrared... oh the flattery! "you are true... not swayed by appearances... teach the way of God" (v.14) This wasn't praise at all! The hideousity of hypocrisy reared its ugly head.

And here, Ravi highlighted to us the profoundness of Jesus' response...

Christ asked the rhetorical question of who's likeness/portrait was on the coin? The wisdom of Jesus came in his next statement, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's" (v.17 NIV)

One wonders why the Pharisees didn't follow up with the question of "What is God's?" till I understood what Jesus really meant. Give to Caesar what is Caesar's. The denarius reflected the likeness of Caesar; and to God what is God's. So on a similar note, what in this world reflects the likeness of God? When Ravi posed that question, he paused and there was silence all around the hall. The answer to that was understood.

Man reflects the likeness of God.

"...Let us make man in our image, after our likeness..." Gen 1:26

When I understood what Jesus was implying in his reply to the Pharisees' question, I knew why they were left speechless. It was a perfect 1-2 knockout punch.

And yet, their hearts were hardened. They suffered from a symptom that our society today suffers from as well--self-centredness. Man's value has clouded what is of real value--God's value. Jesus doesn't need us; we as sinners need Him! Caesar needed the money, the taxes, but God doesn't need us. In fact, he's estranged from us cos of all our sins! Then why did he mention "... to God what is God's"?

Grace.

"Grace is the pleasure of God to magnify the worth of God by giving sinners the right and power to delight in God without obscuring the glory of God."

John Piper (The Pleasures of God)

Jesus Christ brought divine grace into this world of sinners through the gospel. For He is the centre of this gospel and the exaltation of His glory is its driving force.

So, give to God what is God's... not because He needs it, but because glorifying Him is our privilege.

Hallelujah :)