Literature brings all sorts of lessons to us if we think about it; lessons that are made much more poignant by a story. C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia is replete with lessons we could learn. I was reminded of such a lesson today as I considered a variety of reactions to the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers.
Early on in the story, Lucy had spent an entire blissful day in Narnia.
When she stepped out of the wardrobe, she ran with excitement to tell the others. “The others did not know what to think, but Lucy was so excited that they all went back with her into the room. She rushed ahead of them, flung open the door of the wardrobe and cried, “Now! go in and see for yourselves.”
“Why, you goose,” said Susan, putting her head inside and pulling the fur coats apart, “it’s just an ordinary wardrobe; look! there’s the back of it.”
Then everyone looked in and pulled the coats apart; and they all saw–Lucy herself saw–a perfectly ordinary wardrobe. There was no wood and no snow, only the back of the wardrobe, with hooks on it. Peter went in and rapped his knuckles on it to make sure that it was solid.
“A jolly good hoax, Lu,” he said as he came out again; “you have really taken us in, I must admit. We half-believed you.”
Lucy experienced something the others hadn’t yet and their reaction was expected. They checked it out and since it didn’t happen for them the way it had for Lucy, they didn’t believe it. The Holy Spirit doesn’t work in each of our lives exactly the same way. Revival doesn’t always look the same each time it happens. If one experiences either, it is often mis-understood and disbelieved by others, namely-those who haven’t experienced it. They may even “check” it out, i.e., try it, but when it fails to give them the same experience, they doubt it’s reality. Even, unfortunately, attributing it to the enemy.
Edmund soon did experience Narnia, but….a very different Narnia. The Narnia he experienced was discomforting, “he secretly thought that it would not be as good fun for him as for her.” So, after he and Lucy find their siblings and Lucy informs them that Edmund had been there too, Edmund decides to discount what he had experienced.
And Edmund gave a very superior look as if he were far older than Lucy (there was really only a year’s difference) and then a little snigger and said, “Oh, yes, Lucy and I have been playing–pretending that all her story about a country in the wardrobe is true. Just for fun, of course. There’s nothing there really.”
Edmund discounted the reality of Narnia because his experience was wrong. His experience didn’t characterize the true Narnia. And, there are, in the realm of the Holy Spirit and revival, counterfeits at work. And, unfortunately, when believers come in contact with these counterfeits, rather than realize they are just that, counterfeits, they discount the reality of the spiritual world. Revival appears to them to be fake. The workings of the Holy Spirit seem to be manufactured. After all, “There’s nothing there really.”
Lucy could have dismissed Narnia, and said she made it all up. Her 2 older siblings were beginning to think that she was out of her mind. But, was she? Should she have simply given up and denied the reality of Narnia?
When one has experienced the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, it is undeniably real; it is a life-changing experience. But, when one hasn’t experienced it, it appears nonsense…even…unbiblical. Upon close study of the Scripture though, this spiritual “Narnia” is far more real than the “London” to which many of us are accustomed. In fact, a quick perusal through the gospels and Acts would reveal a story much more closely aligned with that of Narnia than that of London.
So, which will you be? Which character are you? Are you Lucy, having experienced the depths of the Holy Spirit’s outpouring and power, an intimacy with God that fulfills your greatest longing? Lucy, because of her integrity, refused to give in by saying Narnia was not real even though it meant a rift in her relationship with her siblings. Others may naysay, no, others WILL naysay what you have experienced. But that doesn’t negate the reality of it. And remember, if Lucy given in for the sake of her relationship, the others never would have experienced Narnia.
Will you be Edmund, having experienced a false representation of the Holy Spirit? Remember that nothing is counterfeited that is not real; nothing is counterfeited that is not of value. So, whatever you experienced as a counterfeit should tell you that there is something that is real and of value. Look for that.
Will you be Peter and Susan who, because you haven’t experienced this outpouring of the Holy Spirit, you won’t believe it? Because you’ve checked the wardrobe and it’s just a simple, ordinary wardrobe, there’s no Narnia. Check to see if pride is a factor(later in the series it is pride that convinces Susan to deny the entire experience in Narnia). Maybe you need to find a Professor to teach you some logic. 😉 Or, maybe just spend a lot more time around Lucy until Narnia is revealed to you as well.
Maybe you are none of these above. Maybe you’d like to be Lucy and experience Narnia. My encouragement to you is….look in every wardrobe you find until Narnia opens up before you.
Narnia is real; London is not.