The Hour He Remembered His Own Name

In C.S. Lewis's The Silver Chair, Prince Rilian has been held captive underground for ten years by a witch who enchants his mind. For twenty-three hours each day, he believes he is content — a willing servant of his captor. He does not remember his father, his kingdom, or even his own name. But for one hour each night, the enchantment weakens. In that single hour, he sees clearly. He knows he is a prisoner. He begs to be freed.

The witch has told his would-be rescuers that this hour of clarity is actually his hour of madness — that the "real" Rilian is the smiling, compliant one. And here is the haunting question Lewis puts before us: How do you know when you are truly awake and when you are under a spell?

This is the condition Scripture describes. Paul writes that the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see the light of Christ (2 Corinthians 4:4). The deepest bondage is the kind that feels like home. The chains we have worn so long we mistake them for jewelry.

Rilian is finally freed when his rescuers obey Aslan's instructions and cut his bonds — even though everything around them says not to. He smashes the silver chair, and the spell breaks for good.

Freedom in Christ often begins the same way: a moment of terrible clarity when the Holy Spirit whispers that the life we thought was normal was never the life the Father intended for us.