I was thinking today (I sometimes do that on Saturdays) about how the differences in the wizards in LOTR can teach us some things about our Christian lifestyle.
Gandalf worked for the same cause throught the trilogy: peace on Middle Earth and the banishment of evil. But in the Fellowship of the Ring, Gandalf the Grey, was not as effective as he was in The Two Towers and The Return of the King as Gandalf the White. Gandalf the Grey was not able to stand up to Saruman the White and was slow to recognize h0w his old friend had changed. I would suggest that this is becuase Grey is a color that is in the middle. It's not white, and it's not black in the same way that warm is not hot, nor is it cold. This is relevant to us because it points out how we need to not be "in the middle" with our Christianity. Being in the middle hinders our purpose to promote God's kingdom and be His representatives.
Another point that can be drawn from this example is that it took a seemingly horrible event to transform Gandalf the Grey into Gandalf the White. Gandalf's battle with the Balrog was an apparent defeat and a source of hopelessness for the fellowship, but it was absolutely necessary to prepare Gandalf to become Gandalf the White and fulfill his purpose absolutely. In the same way, things happen in our lives that we view as horrible, harmful, and destructive, but these things are what we need to bring us to our knees, make us swallow our pride, and rely on God fully. It is in retrospect that we can look back on these things and see how they helped prepare us to be _________ the White, more prepared and ready to fulfill our purpose to be God's representatives on Earth. So when things happen that we view as bad and not of God, we must realize that He is working these bad things together to shape us into people better equipped to serve Him. This is best said in Romans 8: 28-29
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
That's about all I've thought through up to this point. I had a longer post ready to publish with just the Bible reference missing, but when I went to Biblegateway.com to get the reference, I tried to return to find my post had vanished. Feel free to tell me what you think.
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4 comments:
You do bring up a good point that I had meant to discuss.
I think I had addressed that point about Saruman in my original version of the post, but I lost it and tried to recreate it very quickly.
The way I had thought of it was that White is good for the purpose and it symbolizes a pure loyalty. i.e. Saruman was purely loyal to the cause of gaining power and dominion for himself under the guise of working for Sauron.
So White doesn't necessarily mean good, but it symbolizes pure loyalty and ability to work for your cause in the same way that grey represents a drive for the cause that is not as effective.
Mayhaps, white is symbolic of power. Saruman is undeniably powerful. Gandalf reached a new pinnacle of power when he defeated the Balrog. Also, when Saruman changed to the Many-Colored Robe in an attempt to become overly powerful, he lost everything. Much like the rich man that stores his grain without any giving to God, Saruman tried to keep all his power without giving it as a service to good. Both lost it. So white represents not only power, but the willingness to use it for pure reasons. I think.
PS A little advice to a new blogger. When you want to search something while blogging, create a new window by typing "ctrl+n". This allows you to surf the internet and blog in separate windows, and limits the chance of losing your work. Trust me, I've learned this one from multiple deletions of post.
Nice work, The Man. Saruman was not "the White" during LOTR (the books that is). He was the Many-Colored. Hypocrisy also has many faces, does it not...
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