Dragon Skin (2/19-22)

19-22 February 2015 - Dragon Skin – Fresh Manna by Dorothy Callies

Ephesians 4:24 NKJV, “Put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”

What is troubling you today? How can we put on the new man? God may be using the kind rebuke of a friend or a painful trial to prompt you to get rid of our “impatient” habit and to replace it with godly character.

Receiving God’s gift of salvation through Christ is a one time-event, but to become like Him often involves putting off old sinful habits and one of them is “impatient habit” and replacing them with new godly ones (fruit of patience).

Paul wrote, “Put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt … [and] put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph. 4:22-24).

The process of becoming like Christ is sometimes painful so how do we Deaf really understand how does the process of becoming like Christ works? I will use a story like a parable to compare earthly story to heavenly thing. My favorite story was the Chronicle of Narnia, the books which I had when I was a teenager. One of the seven books, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader written by C.S. Lewis. If you had seen the movie, it would be good to watch and learn something.

The characters were Edmund, Lucy, and their spoiled cousin Eustace are summoned to help on a quest in the Eastern Sea. Along the way, Eustace is tempted by enchanted treasures and one was diamond bracelet he put on his left upper arm. He had turned into a dragon while he was asleep. In his thought and heart, he was greedy and became a dragon himself.   

When Eustace awoke from his sleep, he realized he had become a dragon. Eustace become desperate tried to remove his dragon skin three times. Eustace was not successful. Eustace lifted up its voice and wept like a powerful dragon crying its eyes out. The great lion, Aslan, king of Narnia came and the desperate dragon gladly accepts Aslan’s help.

The great lion, Aslan used his claws to painfully tear off the dragon’s flesh along with the bracelet from Eustace’s left upper arm which was causing him pain. Then Aslan threw Eustace into the water to bathe. Eustace was swimming and splashing. Eustace discovered that all the pain had gone from his arm. Eustace was given a new and better clothes than he ever had before. Eustace was grateful for his deliverance. Eustace chooses to become a better boy.

Aslan, the lion is a comparison of Christ, the Lion of Judah. As we like Eustace can only surrender to Christ, the One who can remove our “dragon skin” from an old man and Christ “threw us” into that living water of life and bathe us. We are given a new and better clothes, Christ’s robe of true righteousness and holiness! And we can choose to become a better person.

Paul wrote, “Put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt … [and] put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph. 4:22-24). [Point? Put off your dragon skin and put on the new ‘you.’] 

God bless you and I pray that this will touch your heart!