The Dragon Skin We Cannot Shed

In C.S. Lewis's The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the boy Eustace Scrubb falls asleep on a dragon's hoard with greedy, dragonish thoughts in his heart — and wakes to discover he has become a dragon. His outside finally matches the selfishness festering within.

What follows is one of the most powerful scenes in all of children's literature. Eustace tries desperately to remove the dragon skin himself. He scratches and peels, and for a moment it seems to work — a layer comes off. But underneath lies another layer of scales. He tries again. Another layer. No matter how many times he tears at himself, he remains a dragon.

Then Aslan appears. "You will have to let me undress you," the great Lion says. And his claws cut so deep that Eustace is terrified the pain will reach his heart. But when it is over, Aslan throws the boy into clear water, and Eustace emerges with soft, new skin — human again, himself again.

Lewis understood something pastors see every Sunday morning. We cannot peel away our false identities on our own. Self-improvement scratches the surface, but the dragon goes deeper than willpower can reach. It takes the hands of the Living God — hands that wound in order to heal — to strip away who we have become and restore who we were made to be.

Only the One who created you can tell you who you truly are.