Faith Like a Child

 Probably the two most important writers in my life are CS Lewis and George MacDonald. And it makes me so sad that everyone reading this site probably has some idea who CSL is, and possibly no one knows who GMD is. (Yes, I know both of these men well enough to get away with abbrev’ing their names!) My favorite thing about CSL is The Chronicles of Narnia. Hopefully a ton of you have read them, and hopefully you’ve read them more recently than the 5th grade. Anyway, new personal blog goal: Remind everyone why The Chronicles of Narnia rock, and hopefully convince at least a few of you to pick up some of GMD’s stuff.

“There is a childhood into which we have to grow, just as there is a childhood which we must leave behind. One is a childishness from which but few of those who are counted wisest among men have freed themselves. The other is a child-likeness, which is the highest gain of humanity.” -George MacDonald

C.S. Lewis  said this about George MacDonald: “I dare not say that he is never in error; but to speak plainly I know hardly any other writer who seems to be closer, or more continually close, to the Spirit of Christ Himself. I have never concealed the fact that I regarded him as my master; indeed I fancy I have never written a book in which I did not quote from him.”

 In the Chronicles of Naria, CSL drives home what George MacDonald means in the above quote. The contrast between Lucy and Edmund is so great. Consider Edmund in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe- sulking, and desiring only the comforts of Turkish Delight. And more importantly, consider Lucy. In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Edmund explains who Aslan is to Eustace and indicates Lucy’s close relationship to Aslan: “He is the great Lion, the son of the Emperor over the Sea, who saved me and saved Narnia. We’ve all seen him. Lucy sees him most often”.

Jesus called a little child to him and stood the child before his followers. Then he said, “I tell you the truth, you must change and become like little children.  Otherwise, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. The greatest person in the kingdom of heaven is the one who makes himself humble like this child.”

Matthew 18:2-4

For more on this, read this  paper.