Discontented Purpose

The White Which: "Give me your hand Edmund. I can make you a man. 

You can be my king. Together we can rule all of Narnia once again."

In the final battle of the new Narnia Edmund is faced with a tempting offer. It isn't the first time that Edmund has been asked this question. In the first movie he takes this proposal and it ends up costing Aslan's life to free Edmund. And ever since evil found his weak spot it has tried time after time to appeal to his Achilles heel, to the want of his heart. 

Edmund hearts desire is to be a the king he once was. In all honestly, who can blame him. He ruled for years as High Prince of Narnia only to get thrown back into puberty. To be a man trapped in a teenager's body and having to follow such rules is not a pleasant thing. I find this age to be very unbecoming to a man because respect is hard and rare to earn. So I do not blame Edmund for this wish to be respected, its his doubting of purpose that is where his sin lies. 

In the final battle when Edmund is lastly tested he is faced with two questions: take the witches hand, or slay the sea serpent about to kill everyone. Power and manhood, or danger and possible death. For us looking at it the answer is easy, but for those tempted it is an impossible task. For in that instant we forget the death of the One that was so that we can have a purpose. Just as Edmund, we hesitate to the desires of our heart.  We forget that we have purpose, that there is a ship full of people counting on us to slay our serpent and accomplish are purpose.

I look at Edmund and cannot help but to think "what an idiot". His purpose, the things he was called to do was so much greater than anything I could hope to do. But this is were the sin is, no matter how "big" or "small" of a purpose we have humans seem ever to be content with it. We get stuck on what we think we need to be, or what we see as meaningful. We fail to trust that God's purpose is sufficient.

There is a flip side too. Sometimes we can be to prideful in our purpose. This is what plagued Peter in the second movie. He was so sure of himself and his ability to lead that he did not wait on Aslan, and ended up sacrificing the lives of half of the men he was to protect. Because of pride in his purpose, he failed his purpose.

John the baptist is a good example of a man who was content with his purpose. He did not question whether or not he was important enough. He knew that God had called him to eat bugs, wear dirty camel's fur and he loved it. He also did not become prideful in knowing that he had many followers, or that he was one of the holiest guys in his day. He even flat out talks about his purpose being a gift of which he is not worthy; he says “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven."

I like gifts. A true if is given freely. It can be also taken away. Nothing I did earned me that gift. As long as we remember this we have no choice except to stay humble. We also have no choice but to stay joyful. God chose us out of all the other people to bless with this one purpose. Whether we are stuck cleaning toilets or pasturing a mega church, God chose us to do the work needed to be done. God gave us a purpose. Be content with it.