When we let Jesus remove the old, he will then give us a new life. Once again, only He can provide it, for it is only by Him that we are given a new life. When Christ rose from death, he rose to a completely new life than He had before, and it is this very life that He offers to us as new “skin”. The life we are given is a life that has defeated death and will live for eternity in the fellowship of our Creator, the One who is able to fulfill our greatest needs and desires.

One more thing… we must remember, when we are dealt a bad hand, and must suffer through something miserable, think about how God has the power to turn that miserable thing into an opportunity to shed another dragon layer and become more like who He intends us to be.

Eunice begins to help people. The Dawn Treader is in need of repairs, so Eunice helps with the heavy lifting. Over the next few days, the crew members of the ship notice a change in character. Eunice has gone from a spoiled, whiney little brat, to a helpful dragon.

When the Dawn Treader is once again ready to put to sea, Eunice decided he didn’t want to be a burden to King Caspian and his crew so he slips away into the forest, with the intention of living on the island for the rest of his dragon life. However, Aslan, the Great Lion shows up and guides him to a lake, where Eunice is supposed to take a bath. But first, Eunice must remove his “clothes”.

“But I’m not wearing any clothes,” Eunice thinks to himself. What Aslan wants him to do is shed his outer dragon skin. Eunice does this, but afterwards the skin is still dry and scaly. So, he proceeds to shed another layer, and another. After a few attempts, the skin doesn’t get any better.

Aslan is the One who must shed the skin. Only the Great Lion can completely remove the dragon skin from the boy. So, with His sharp claws, Aslan claws deep into the dragon skin and tears it with great pain to Eunice until there is nothing left but a naked boy. Eunice points out that he is now without clothes. Aslan responds, “I will dress you”.

I have more to say about this story, but for now, let this sink in…

It’s not a question of God “sending” us to Hell. In each of us there is something growing up which will of itself be Hell unless it is nipped in the bud.

C.S. Lewis, God in the Dock

I get so tired of people talking about how God can’t be a God of love if he sends us to hell.

God has given us an option between Heaven and Hell, and if we continue to ignore the fact that we are sinful people, Hell will eventually take over and heaven will no longer be an option.

The soldiers bound the Lord’s legs, pressed them hard against the wood, and nailed his feet to the cross. Ruthlessly they pulled the stake upward, balanced it, and then plunged it into a waiting hole. There was an awful thud and a pathetic groan.

Overhead the heavens were growing dark with some sick and mysterious cloud. Every moment the sky grew darker and more foreboding. Citizens of earth clutched their garments about them and shook inside at the sight of the foulness gathering in the sky above them. What they saw were but small drops of vast, unholy things seeping through from unseen realms.

The angels were now on the darkest and most dreadful of their journeys. Across time and space they flew, into every year, hour, and minute of human history. Into every village, town, and city. Across plain and desert, down even into the seas, they plunged. Rising, they brought back their dreadful cargo to Jerusalem, careful to stay in the invisible, that they not drown earth with the very stench of their black wares.

Darker and thicker grew the massive thing, as numberless angels wrestled to endure their burden until the appointed moment.

The Lord of earth grew faint upon his cross. His time was at an end.

With groans and wails and agonizing cries, the angels lifted their foul booty, stepped into time, and rushed up Golgotha’s hill, carrying with them every sin of every man and woman who had ever lived!

Bringing together into one place this vile, pulsating, living thing called sin, thy cast it all into the Lamb of God – who now became sin incarnate. All sin was now accumulated in one place – in him. Divinity now experienced that one thing it had never known. In the flood of that indescribably hideous invasion, the Lord of glory, forsaken of all holiness, cried out in delirium,

My God, my God,
Why hast thou forsaken me?