Live Like A Narnian: Christian Discipleship in Lewis's Chronicles

by Joe Rigney

For this is what it means to be a king: to be first in every desperate attack and last in every desperate retreat, and when there’s hunger in the land (as must be now and then in bad years) to wear finer clothes and laugh louder over a scantier meal than any man in your land.

Kingship and headship, as both Aslan and Jesus have shown us, is about love and sacrifice, giving up your whole self for the sake of those in your care, even unto death.

Lewis goes on to remark that “the sight of adult misery and adult terror has an effect on children which is merely paralyzing and alienating.”

It is not whether we will have a destination, but which destination we will have. Not whether we will choose to go, but where.

They are, in essence, Former Men, “men who have sacrificed their own share in traditional humanity in order to devote themselves to the task of deciding what ‘Humanity’ shall henceforth mean.”

Put first things first and we get second things thrown in: put second things first & we lose both first and second things. We never get, say, even the sensual pleasure of food at its best when we are being greedy.

So then, this is what it looks like to live in the Tao of Aslan: recognizing evil, confessing sin, cultivating friendships, refusing to use people, trusting the grace and compassion of the Lion, and putting first things first.

My bleakest seasons of darkness and depression were triggered by theological questions and doubts. The vision of God and the world that I cherished so much began to come apart.

So then, The Last Battle shows us tragedy and despair. Does it also show us how to endure? Can it instruct Narnians how to live in the dark and “take the adventure that Aslan sends to us”? I believe that it can.

we must prepare for dark nights by cultivating strong relationships while it is yet light.

must learn to identify the Ancient Serpent’s song in our own world.

External enemies are no true threat unless their lies find a willing embrace in our hearts and minds.

In the midst of doubt and depression, a large part of obedience means avoiding idleness at all costs.

Manual labor never abolished my doubts, but by the grace of God it did help to make them bearable.

She wasted all her school time wanting to be the age she is now, and she’ll waste all the rest of her life trying to stay that age.

The picture that emerges is one in which the male characters are the overall leaders, but the female characters are the wise counselors and guides, whose intuition is not to be ignored. The lesson for Christian marriages, families, and churches is plain.

There must be something unnatural about the rule of wives over husbands, because the wives themselves are half ashamed of it and despise the husbands whom they rule.

We live down here in the fog where it’s hard to think.

there’s not a one-to-one correspondence between Narnia and our world.

We often think in pictures, and a distorted movie can impress distorted pictures on our minds.