At the moment I’m slowly rereading C. S. Lewis’ very good (and somewhat famous) Chronicles of Narnia. The first time I read these books I was in grade 6 and a lot has changed since then – I’ve now been to uni, I now spend more time reading books than playing video games – and most importantly… now I’ve been a Christian since my fourth year at uni. And it’s this last change that makes me ask have you never read Narnia?
Why do you ask?
I asked because I had read Narnia before and enjoyed it a lot – but also missed a lot. I had read the Magician’s Nephew and admired the creation of Narnia – but I missed the links between this and Genesis. And I had read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and enjoyed how the bad guy Edmund became a good guy – but I missed the links between Aslan and Jesus. (For anyone who hasn’t read Narnia I’ve tried to avoid spoiling the story!). These things that I missed are important things. What makes me feel so humbled is that I didn’t just find these things by getting older. And even if I had found them out I would had no love for these links.
Why does it matter?
It matters because our experience with Narnia can be very similar to our experience with the Bible. Have you read Narnia and missed the important things like I have? Or have you read Narnia and failed to love the important things? We also need to ask, have I read the Bible and missed the important things? Or have I read the Bible and failed to love the important things?
This matters because Jesus met and challenged people who had read all about him…but didn’t recognise him. That is, they wanted God to send them a leader would solve their problems. And they looked through Bibles for anything that would back up what they wanted. But the leader they got was different. This Jesus wasn’t the one they wanted. This Jesus said to them (for example):
“Have you never read in the Scriptures…”
“You pore over the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them, yet they testify about Me. And you are not willing to come to Me so that you may have life.”
What can we do?
These quotes are scary quotes. Jesus says that it’s about life and death – even eternal life. They matter enough for us to do something decisive about them.
If you’re reading this I imagine this you have already done something decisive. You’ve decided to believe in what Jesus did on the weekend that changed the world (think Good Friday and Easter Sunday). If that’s the case then keep on looking for and loving the important things. Keep on growing in your “knowing” and “doing” while we wait for Jesus.
But maybe you’ve decided to be a Christian but it’s hard to say that you love how every book in the Bible points to Jesus. Or it’s hard to say that your knowledge of Jesus is affecting what you do or how you feel. Or perhaps you have friends like this from school or church. Why not ask God for help in prayer? Or why not talk about with someone who knows and love Jesus?
Or maybe you’re thinking about your non-Christian friend who has no background with or no interest in the Bible. Why not regularly pray that God will change what they love? And why not try inviting them to read Uncover with you? (it’s not too late)
I will keep on rereading Narnia (this helps) and looking forward to thanking C. S. Lewis for giving us his books. More importantly, I will keep on reading the Bible and looking forward to thanking God for changing what we believe in – giving us eyes to see and ears to hear what he is saying about who Jesus is and what he has done.