A Dragon Transformed

In, "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" we encounter a rather unfriendly character named Eustace. When his cousins Edmund and Lucy return to the magical land of Narnia, he is inadvertantly brought along and is far from happy about the expedition. He spends much of his time complaining, declairing himself sick, writing nasty things in his journal, and causing mischief around the boat. One day they go to an island where Eustace wanders off and finds an enchanted treasure. He tries to gather as much of the treasure as he can, but this is hard work and he falls asleep. When Eustace wakes up, he finds that he has been transformed into a dragon. At first his counsins and their friends do not recognize him, but when they discover what happened they welcome Eustace back and try to make him comfortable. During his time as a dragon, Eustace reflects on his bad behavior and decides to change his ways. Instead of causing trouble, he looks for ways to help his friends, such as hauling trees that they use to repair their ship, and making a fire to keep the crew warm. Although Eustace is improving his behavior, he is still a dragon and that is beyond his ability to change. Eustace desperately tears at his dragon scales, but it is no use. At last, it is the lion Aslan that tears the scales off and frees Eustace from the dragon body he was trapped in.

During our class, we discussed the difference between the soul and the spirit. When the person makes Jesus lord of their life, their soul is saved entirely, once and for all. However, their spirit is in need of sactification, that is, the process of becoming more like Jesus Christ. Although people can try to improve their behavior both before and after their soul is redeemed, we will all be pitiful dragons unless we submit ourselves to Jesus and allow him to set us free.