Battle Against Sin
“Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the World.”
I John 4:4
The other night, Daniel, my 6-year-old son and I finished reading C.S. Lewis’ “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.” It is something to marvel at how C.S. Lewis uses allegory and images to captivate our imaginations, especially the imagination of a child. Throughout the book, Daniel felt like he was present in Narnia and couldn’t wait to figuratively walk back through the wardrobe himself and catch up with the rest of the tale.
His most enjoyable and exciting moment was when the great lion Aslan, emperor of Narnia, recently resurrected from the dead after being slayed by the White Witch and her cronies, gathers an army of all sorts of courageous and fascinating creatures — leopards, eagles, fawns, centaurs and friendly giants — to conquer the White Witch and her evil horde before she annihilates the good guys, the children of Narnia and their army. Of course, this is all C.S. Lewis’ allegory not only of Christ’s victorious battle against our enemy, the Devil and his forces of evil and darkness but of our shared victory with Him, over the forces of evil and darkness in our own hearts.
In other words, as we read this story, our imagination is meant to harken to our battles against sin and temptation in our lives, battles that are supposed to be courageous endeavors. I realized, however, that I don’t always feel that way about battling sin in my life. I am beset sometimes by complacency that my sin is not that big of a deal, or sometimes a sense of weakness that my sin is bigger than I am. Yet, the promises of God, “Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world” (I John 4:4) are a sure and certain foundation upon which to build my faith.
And so, taking a page from C.S. Lewis’ allegorical tale, I, too, am learning to be renewed in the spirit of my mind, to imagine myself battling sin as an exciting and thrilling endeavor, to share in the Lion of Judah, Christ’s victory over the enemy, “to finally beat down Satan under our feet” as “The Book of Common Prayer” puts it on page 152, quoting Romans 16:20, “The God of peace will shortly crush Satan under your feet.”
A Prayer
Grant, O Lord God, to all who have been baptized into the death and resurrection of thy Son Jesus Christ, that, as we have put away the old life of sin, so we may be renewed in the spirit of our minds, and live in righteousness and true holiness, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (“The Book of Common Prayer,” page. 252)
