"It would be nice, and fairly nearly true, to say that "from that time
forth Eustace was a different boy." To be strictly accurate, he began to
be a different boy. He had relapses. There were still many days when he
could be very tiresome. But most of those I shall not notice. The cure
had begun."
~CS Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
I have always liked this quote from CS Lewis' book "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader", because its such an a beautiful description of the life after the conversion experience. Eustace was frightfully tiresome person; prideful, arrogant and totally self absorbed. His story describes his process of becoming a dragon, and then being "un-dragoned" by Aslan. The statement implies that while he was definitely not the same boy, he still acted like the same boy on occasion.
I know you've seen it before. Someone meets Jesus and their life is never the same. They are indeed a new creature, but then you see the old part pop back out, and you wonder to yourself " I thought they knew Jesus now, why would they act like that? I thought they had mastered that ___________" You can fill in the blank. Be honest now, you know you have done this. I know I have.
AND, if we who have also met Jesus and become new, are honest with ourselves, the same could be said of us. Right? In fact, if we are truthful with our own hearts, we wonder if we are indeed a new creature. "I thought I knew Jesus, I thought I had mastered that ___________". You fill in the blank.
Here is the beauty of the life given to Jesus, the Ultimate Cure is complete at the moment you surrender to him, but it is not yet perfected. How can it be? We still live in these dieing bodies, in a dieing world, surrounded by dieing people. But, what we can trust, is that while we may no be perfect yet, that day is coming, and while we wait for it, Jesus continues to work in us, molding us, making us new, refining the rough edges of our hearts. We know that while sometimes we may be "very tiresome" to others and ourselves, we can trust that the cure has begun.
I know you've seen it before. Someone meets Jesus and their life is never the same. They are indeed a new creature, but then you see the old part pop back out, and you wonder to yourself " I thought they knew Jesus now, why would they act like that? I thought they had mastered that ___________" You can fill in the blank. Be honest now, you know you have done this. I know I have.
AND, if we who have also met Jesus and become new, are honest with ourselves, the same could be said of us. Right? In fact, if we are truthful with our own hearts, we wonder if we are indeed a new creature. "I thought I knew Jesus, I thought I had mastered that ___________". You fill in the blank.
Here is the beauty of the life given to Jesus, the Ultimate Cure is complete at the moment you surrender to him, but it is not yet perfected. How can it be? We still live in these dieing bodies, in a dieing world, surrounded by dieing people. But, what we can trust, is that while we may no be perfect yet, that day is coming, and while we wait for it, Jesus continues to work in us, molding us, making us new, refining the rough edges of our hearts. We know that while sometimes we may be "very tiresome" to others and ourselves, we can trust that the cure has begun.
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