A Good Hurt

As I was reading the conversation between the Ghost with the lizard on his shoulder and the Angel, I wasn't reading it as exactly that type of conversation. I found myself reading it more as a conversation between myself (or any other sinner) and God.

I imagine the lizard as a personification of sin - choose any sin you like. We carry it around with us and listen to its whisperings in our ear, choosing to let it convince us of things that we normally would not be convinced of. God wants to take that sin from us and make us into a new creation. But he can only do that if the sin that we have been clinging to is "killed" - and this can't be done against our will.

The conversation turns almost comical if you read it from the viewpoint I was reading it from. Here is an Angel simply wanting to free us from something that we have said it could free us from - and then when we realize that it is going to hurt us, we chicken out and start talking in circles.

"I never said it wouldn't hurt you. I said it wouldn't kill you." Doesn't this sound like just the thing you would expect God to say? Releasing our sin hurts. But here is one of those paradoxes: it is a good hurt. It hurts initially, but in the long run? It's one of the best choices you could have made.

"I cannot kill it against your will. It is impossible. Have I your permission?" God needs our full cooperation to transform us into the person He meant for us to be. After receiving this permission, look at how the Ghost turned out! By accepting the fact that he would have to be hurt in order to live a better life, he allows the Angel to crush the lizard. We read that the Ghost "gave a scream of agony such as was never heard on Earth." Keep reading and we see that the Ghost is transformed into an Angel himself, and the lizard into a great stallion.

"I never said it wouldn't hurt you. I said it wouldn't kill you." God doesn't promise that it will be easy. God promises eternal life in exchange for a little Earthly discomfort.