Puddle Water and Poison

Here I am for the first entry in 2011! I fully intended for this to happen sooner. In fact, I wanted to do an entry before New Years. But alas, time slips away.

So here I sit, listening to Haste the Day, my new favorite band.

So, what have I been thinking about lately? Always, too much to list. Everyday life has so much to teach us, if we will listen, if we don't resist every hard thing but see them as God does.

I watched the newest Chronicles of Narnia installment, Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Purely from a movie standpoint, it was good, not great. But from the perspective of my faith, and understanding the pictures put into the story by C.S. Lewis, it was intense and meaningful. There are so many aspects of his storytelling that cut right to the heart, not only of the human condition but of Christ and the gospel.

Perhaps the most vivid image I took away is the changed face of Eustace. For those that don't know the story, he is a stuck up, selfish, confused boy to begin with. But after coming face to face with the weight of his own sin and also being given a second chance from Aslan, he is utterly changed. Near the end of the movie, he gives a shy grin to one of his cousins, and it speaks volumes of the change in his heart. You must understand the person he was before though. He was dominated by his own pride and ignorant self-importance. He is one of the most distasteful portrayals of human personality and character I've ever seen. It is what makes his transformation all the more compelling. It is clear Eustace will never be the same - it would be impossible.

That is the sign of meeting Christ - a countenance of humility, openness, and love. He is truly "the light that gives light to every man". (John 1:9) As David puts it, "In Your light we see light." (Psalm 36) It is in this light we understand the necessity of denying ourselves for our own good - the one who wants to have their cake and eat it too (a phrase becoming increasingly fitting to describe the shift in modern thinking regarding right and wrong) is doomed to the same unhappy fate as the rich young ruler - we must leave, possessions in hand, and misery in our hearts knowing that we do not possess the one treasure worth giving up everything to have.

"Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding." (Proverbs 4:7) "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field." (Matthew 13:44)

Eustace's vice was wealth. He stumbled on a cursed stash of hidden treasure, and became poisoned by it - it possessed him, and turned him into a beast. Ironically, that is really how our treasures here affect us! We cannot possess them for very long, in very great an amount, without them beginning to possess and poison us! They are equally decieving and equally damaging as in Narnia, and they turn us into equally ugly beasts when the dark transformation is complete.

Listen to the words of Isaiah, and consider whether releasing some of that treasure could even be called a loss.

Isaiah 55
Invitation to the Thirsty
1 “Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
2 Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and you will delight in the richest of fare.
3 Give ear and come to me;
listen, that you may live.

Our Creator has given us the choice. As Matthew Henry put it, "we must part with our puddle-water, nay, with our poison, that we may procure this wine and milk." We cannot have both. But we can have what is by far the best.