The Claws That Made Him New

In C.S. Lewis's The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the boy Eustace Scrubb becomes a dragon. His greed and selfishness have literally transformed him into the creature he always was on the inside. Trapped in scaly skin, he is miserable, desperate to be himself again.

Eustace tries to fix it on his own. He scratches and peels away a layer of dragon hide, only to find another layer underneath. He tears off that one too. Another appears. No matter how many layers he removes, the dragon remains.

Then Aslan comes. The great lion says, "You will have to let me undress you." And Aslan's claws cut far deeper than Eustace ever dared go himself. It hurts terribly. But when the lion tears away that final skin, Eustace is thrown into a well of clear water, and he emerges restored — a boy again, tender and raw and new.

This is the gospel of restoration. We try so hard to peel away our own brokenness — through self-improvement, willpower, fresh starts every January. But our efforts only scratch the surface. True restoration requires a deeper work, one only the Almighty can perform. It hurts, because healing often does. But the hands that wound us are the same hands that make us whole.

You cannot un-dragon yourself. But the One who made you can.