How To Train Your Dragon
If you have ever seen the movie listed, you will notice some very realistic examples of the Christian life in it. First off, Hiccup, the main character is the king's son, and He is supposed to one day take over the leadership of their tribe, but Hiccup appears weak and disinterested at the beginning and his father is really worried about him. His mother is supposedly dead at this time,even though in later versions Hiccup finds out she is very much alive and able to control dragons like he can. "Spoiler alert!" Then enters the dragon that changes everything for Hiccup and his name is Toothless. Hiccup progresses in his search for manhood the most when he begins to train Toothless and this control takes the immense power of the Night Shade Dragon, which is the most powerful dragon type, and harnesses him so Hiccup can ride him. Hiccup goes through different stages of learning to ride toothless and it was not an easy process, but toothless always catches Hiccup when He falls off because toothless loves Hiccup. Finally Hiccup was able to handle the flying and he and toothless fly as one to great heights that before had been scary to Hiccup, but now he is confident and secure while riding this dragon.
When they faced the evil that came against their people toothless had the fire that Hiccup needed to fight the battles. All in all, this movie is a pretty good example of the Christian life because we have been given the Holy Spirit and we live in the power of the Holy Spirit. The enemy has tried to convince us that the Holy Spirit is not needed or even evident in our world today, but scripture refutes any notion or teaching of that and we just need to believe and let the Holy Spirit control our lives. There have been so many abuses in the name of the Holy Spirit and these abuses have caused many to not want to be associated with the Holy Spirit. Of course, this is ludicrious and very weakening for those who call Jesus Lord. Weakening in that we don't realize that with the Holy Spirit we have the power to, not only just live our lives, but live in power and victory. This power is to be controlled by God and His Word is the controlling force, but we will be taken to challenging heights in our walk. Just like Hiccup, we fail sometimes living in that power, and mistakes are made, but those mistakes shouldn't cause us to "throw the baby out with the wash!" In Matthew 3:11 scripture says 11 “As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. There should be a "fire" in each of us who call Jesus Lord and that fire should spur us on to good works and Godly living. Also, that fire will cause us to pour out our lives as an offering to the Lord in service. One thing the Holy Spirit does for sure is call us to a deeper look at God's Work which produces a deeper walk that is Christ-centered.
The Word of God is still the training method God uses to lead us to living at a new level of faith and that level causes our faith to soar. Part of that soaring is gaining new strength to live a life that makes a difference within the church. Isaiah writes in 40:31 Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary. Time to soar. Time to fly. Time to let the fire in our hearts burn bright for Jesus. We have had plenty of training and now we need to fly with the power of God lifting us to new heights through the Holy Spirit. We have the fire, so let it burn bright for Jesus.
The Pilgrimage Continues...
David Warren