Gollumized or Eutacised?

Gollum was a Hobbit. But something happened to him. Hobbits are as a rule good-natured folk, hospitable and delighted in parties and in presents, which they gave away freely and eagerly accepted. They had red cheeks, bright eyes and thick curly brown hair on feet and head. When Bilbo met him he was anything but a Hobbit; rather a monster: thin, black-skinned, flatfooted, with sparse hair, long thin hands and bulging eyes. In Tolkien's words, "he was a loathsome little creature."

What happened to bring about such a dramatic transformation? He set his affection on the Ring. And the One Ring, the Great Ring, the Ruling Ring of power overtook him and disfigured him. He called it his "precious." He worshiped it and it eventually consumed him and ultimately destroyed him.

Gollum's debauched life is a vivid picture of what happens when I set my heart on anything in this world. His disordered love did him in. Because of his obsession with the ring, Gollum was no longer what he was supposed to be. The same distortion happens in my life every time I set my heart on the things of this life rather than Jesus Christ. Augustine said disordered love leads to a disordered life. I am in peril of becoming "gollumized" (David Naugle's word in Reordered love, Reordered Lives).

Eustace Clarence Scrubb was Edmund and Lucy's disagreeable nine-year-old cousin (in C. S. Lewis's Voyage of the Dawn Treader). Eustace was a disgruntled, self-centered little lad. The cousins found themselves transported to the land of Narnia as participants in a rescue mission aboard the ship, Dawn Treader. At one stop on an island, Eustace wanders off alone and stumbles into the lair of a fire-breathing dragon. To his delight the dragon was not only dead but had also left his entire fortune of gold and precious jewels to him. He drifts off to sleep but when he awakens he realizes that something shocking had occurred during his nap: his true inner state had manifested itself in his outward appearance. He had been transformed into an ugly, scaly monster.

Eustace was devastated. He wanted desperately to become "undragoned" and become human again. He pleaded for help but no one was able to help - until the great Lion appeared to him. Aslan led him to a mountain pool and told him to wash in it. But first he must remove his leathery skin for the waters to work their magic. Eustace tries but eventually Aslan has to tear his thick scales off with his sharp claws and this is excruciatingly painful. Then the Lion places Eustace in the pool, bathes him and clothes him in a new suit.

I am prone to chase after the stuff of this world, but by God's grace I have been "eustacised" (my word). My cure from the distortion of disordered loves begins when "God as the Great Physician applies the medicine of the cross to the disease of my sin and nurses me through the love of the Holy Spirit into good health according to the prescriptions of His word." (Naugle, 147). His love, through the cross of Christ, transforms my love and reorders my life. I become a worshiper rather than an idolater.

Ideas for this refection comes from my reading of David K. Naugle's Reordered Love, Reordered Lives: Learning the Deep Meaning of Happiness.

Knowing the Love of Christ that Surpasses Knowledge

"I pray that you . . . know this love that surpasses knowledge." (Ephesians 3:19). John Bunyan observes that there is great benefit in knowing that Christ's love is beyond our understanding. Satan will come to us in times of moral failure with his accusations. These are designed to drive us away from Christ.

"Says Satan, do you not know that you have horribly sinned? Yes, says the soul, I do. Says Satan, do you not know that you are one of the vilest in all the pack of professing believers? Yes, says the soul, I do. Says Satan, does not your conscience tell you that you are, and have been, more base than any person can imagine you to be? Yes, says the soul, my conscience tells me this. Well then, says Satan, now I will appeal to you. Are you not a graceless wretch? Yes. Do you have a heart that is sorry for this wickedness? No, not as I should. Then, says Satan, is not your heart convinced that God will disregard you? Yes, says the sinner. Why then, despair and go dispose of yourself, says the devil. And now we are at the end of the thing designed and driven at by Satan. But what shall I now do? asks the sinner. I answer, remember the words of Ephesians 3:19, Christ loves with a love that surpasses knowledge. And answer Satan saying, though I cannot think that Christ loves me, though I cannot think that God will save me, yet Satan, I will not yield to your accusations. For God can do more than I think He can."

Excerpts from John Bunyan's All Loves Excelling.