The Wardrobe Door That Never Locked

In C.S. Lewis's The Last Battle, the dwarfs sit in a bright, sunlit field, yet they are convinced they are trapped in a dark, filthy stable. Aslan Himself sets a feast before them — rich pies, good wine, fresh-picked flowers — but they taste only turnips and dirty water. "They have chosen cunning instead of belief," Aslan says with sorrow. "Their prison is only in their own minds, yet they are in that prison; and so afraid of being taken in that they cannot be taken out."

Lewis understood something that every pastor sees in the pews on Sunday morning. Freedom is not always a matter of chains. Sometimes the door stands wide open and we simply refuse to walk through it. We have been hurt before, disappointed before, taken in before — and so we crouch in our self-made darkness, suspicious of any light that dares to reach us.

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Galatians, "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." Notice the strange construction — you have been set free, so be free. The work is finished. The stable door is open. The feast is real.

Some of us are sitting in a wide-open field, tasting turnips by choice. The Almighty has already unlocked the door. The only question is whether we will trust Him enough to see it.