I believe people have layers as well. My Community Group is an excellent place to discuss such matters, as we did this evening. Conversation was sparked in reference to our pastor's sermon from this morning, on John 15.9-17, as we considered the topic of relationships and what the Lord calls us to be in them. Our instincts tell us to play it safe, to keep things superficial and protect ourselves; the Lord's commands are not nearly as conservative! Not only are we called to love others as Christ has loved us (which is a difficult enough task), Jesus further defines this call by telling us that we are to lay down our lives for our friends. Now, an interesting point was made tonight, in that it could be easier to conceptualize taking a bullet for someone than to walk with them on a day-to-day basis through the muck and mire of this fallen world. Who wouldn't choose a discrete period of pain (or death?) over a potentially innumerable number of days of emotional and psychological angst? Could it be said that the intense, possibly short-lived experience of the martyr might be easier than the extended, grief-filled lifetime of the saint?
And yet, this is what love is. This is what Christ has done for us--He has made life (and love) in a fallen world possible--even if it is never easy. Perhaps we could brush this command off as impossible if He Himself had not already walked this path, if He had never been tempted; this, however, is not the case. The Lord was tempted, and He endured all sorts of suffering...not merely physical, but emotional and mental suffering as well. Who are we to expect that we would be spared similar experience? What arrogance! Nevertheless, we can draw a great deal of comfort from the fact that the Lord *did* endure, to great and godly ends, His life on this earth. And He did not leave us helpless--no. He has and will equip is in trial and relationship to embody Him, if we are willing to put forth the effort. And let's not forget that this requires a significant amount of effort, self-sacrifice, and the willingness to make ourselves vulnerable to every sort of pain. We must abandon all illusions of self-sufficiency along with our selfish goals in relationships. We are guaranteed to mess things up every time we lose our focus and our desperate grip on Him.
By now, you are probably wondering at the dragon image attached to this post. It is Eustace Scrubb, the self-centred cousin of the Pevensies from C. S. Lewis' "Voyage of the Dawn Treader." If you remember, he is turned into a dragon during the story. At first he finds this to be a pleasant change, but as he realizes how he is distanced from mankind he falls into despair. Aslan comes to him and tells him that he can regain his former shape by shedding his dragon skin...so Eustace begins the process of removing his layers. Much to his horror, there are more layers than he realized between his dragon-self and his boy-self. Only when he sees his inadequacy does Alsan step in and offer assistance. Making one large, deep, and quite painful cut, Aslan removes the outer shell of Eustace and exposes the boy within. Much like Eustace, we need the Lord's help to remove our protective shells and to live as unmasked little boys and girls.
