#mod ailora

—C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle

… he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. —John 19:30 ESV

And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. —Matthew 27:51 ESV

—C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. —Isaiah 43:19 ESV

“In our world too, a stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world.” —The Last Battle

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” —1 John 1:9

It’s always bugged me that Edmund, the one for whom Aslan died, was declared “the Just.”

“Just” is defined as “based on or behaving according to what is morally right and fair.” But why, after all that Aslan had done for him, was Edmund not “the Merciful”? Didn’t Aslan’s mercy toward him cause Edmund to be merciful too?

Aslan wasn’t being “just” when he died for Edmund. He wasn’t being “morally right and fair.” If he was, he’d have let Edmund die for his treachery. That’s the moral and fair response to Edmund’s sins. 

In the same way, God would be “morally right and fair” to let US die for our sins. 

So why is God not described as “merciful and gracious” in this verse? Why is God described as “just,” if justice should mean we are punished for our sins?

I believe, personally, that it’s because of God’s promises. God is faithful and just—God does what is morally fair—when He does what He’s promised to us. 

When Jesus took our place on the cross, He took all of God’s wrath. For God to punish us further—for God to not forgive us—after Jesus TOOK our punishment would not be “faithful and just.” This is what “faithful and just” refers to. 

This is why Edmund is referred to as “the Just.” I believe that during his reign in Narnia and throughout his life in our world, Edmund is not just in the sense that he exacts punishment on those who are immoral—he is just because he gives mercy. Edmund sees the sacrifice Aslan made for him—and all of Narnia in the process—and he sees the punishment taken. 

Let us live by Edmund’s example—and God’s—and be just, extending mercy because the ultimate punishment was taken by Jesus.

Praise God that He is faithful and just regarding the promises He’s made to us. Praise God that He is faithful and just to forgive us when we confess. 

Happy Easter, Narnians! He Is Risen!

Anniversary of C. S. Lewis’s death, Nov. 22, 1963

“Give up your self, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favourite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end: submit with every fibre of your being, and you will find eternal life. Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will ever be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.” —C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

On this day in 1963, beloved author and theologian C.S. Lewis stepped out from this world into eternity. It was a day he had doubtless imagined his whole Christian life, and it was a concept that appeared in countless works of his.

As reflected in his autobiography Surprised By Joy, after wandering from Christianity for many years, Lewis discovered that the longing that had overtaken him his whole life (which he called Joy) was not an end in itself, nor were any of the things of this world. Every pleasure, he realized, pointed him to God and to the world to come—and his heart’s desire could be met only with God Himself.

TNOA’s 100 Verse Challenge - 100/100

-Colossians 2:17 (NIV)

TNOA’s 100 Verse Challenge - 94/100

Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear—but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious. —1 Peter 3:3-4 (ESV)