Undragoned

In C.S. Lewis's The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, a boy named Eustace Scrubb becomes a dragon. His greed and selfishness have literally reshaped him — scales, claws, wings, and all. Trapped in a monstrous body, Eustace is desperate to become a boy again.

He tries. He scratches at the dragon skin and peels it away, layer after layer. Each time he thinks he's finally free, only to find another layer of scales underneath. His own efforts aren't enough.

Then Aslan appears. The great lion tells Eustace, "You will have to let me undress you." And Aslan's claws go deeper than Eustace ever dared to go himself. It hurts terribly. But when it's over, Eustace is a boy again — tender-skinned, vulnerable, and new.

Lewis understood something every pastor knows: we cannot transform ourselves. We can scratch at the surface — modify behaviors, make resolutions, try harder — but the scales go deeper than our own claws can reach. Real transformation requires a hand stronger and more loving than our own.

The Apostle Paul wrote, "If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here" (2 Corinthians 5:17). That word "new" isn't a renovation. It's a replacement.

God doesn't ask us to peel away our old selves. He asks us to let Him do what only He can do — make us entirely new.