Recently I watched the movie, Christopher Robin set in the mid-1940s. The story is about the adult Christopher Robin suffering through the stresses of war and then as a procurement officer for a suitcase company, a husband, and a father. While his name was Christopher Robin, he was no longer the whimsical child whose friends were wise stuffed animals. As an adult, he lost himself and became overwhelmed by life allowing his carnal (sin) nature to take hold of him.

How many of us become overwhelmed by life? How many of us lost our way when we became adults? How many of us have or had careers, families, and life only to find that we have been misplaced by the facade of what we thought an adult was? In effect, we have allowed our sin nature to become our master. Our sin nature is our carnal self. When we are not alert, the essence of who God created us to be is overtaken by the world. Fortunately, possessing the Holy Spirit alerts us of the takeover and awakens us to live a life like Christ. 2 Kings 2:3 tells us God will remove the master of our carnal being and free us to be who he created us to be.

“Then the sons of the prophets who were at Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him. “Do you know that the Lord will take away your master from over you today?” And he said, “Yes, I know; be still.”

As the story proceeds, Pooh looked for Christopher Robin for years because he missed the relationship they had years ago. Do you miss the relationship you had with God when you were a newly saved Christian? One day Pooh decided to venture out and find him. Are you seeking the Lord and your relationship with Him?

Jumping ahead, Pooh found Christopher Robin in London and hoped he would still be his friend and return to the 100-Acre Wood. When he saw a man approaching him in the park, Pooh did not recognize him. His adult (carnal) personality was nothing close to who he was as a youth, his essence was missing, and he was a mere shell of who he was earlier in life.

Pooh then said, it is always a sunny day when Christopher Robin comes to play. Christopher heard Pooh but knew the old Christopher was dormant and lost. He could not find himself and therefore could not play with them. This was his wake-up moment. Up until that moment, he did not realize he was lost. Luke 5:26 says,

“They were all stuck with astonishment and began glorifying God; and they were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen remarkable things today.”

To shift the story a bit, this morning at church Pastor Paul Sheppard (Destiny Christian Fellowship, USA), shared a God showed him a paradigm shift about of what he had been in prayer about for some time. Pastor Paul shared that paradigm shifts change the perspective of how you see something. In essence, what you thought a thing was, was, in fact, something completely different when the shift takes place. I share this because Christopher Robin experienced a paradigm shift when he found his daughter (who went back to the city to give him his papers he left behind) and she gave him one of the pages of his report. The diagram was a pyramid showing percentages of who purchased suitcases, reflecting a loss in sales (that could result in the company closing down). However, when the diagram was inverted, it showed a potential increase in sales if you looked at the economics of what part of the population would purchase suitcases when they received vacation time to travel. Before the paradigm shift, the target market was the rich, the inverted diagram reflected that as the market changed to include the average working man, suitcase sales would increase exponentially.

In the end, everything worked out. Christopher Robin saved the day, the company remained open, he reclaimed his essence, found himself and began to focus on his family. The final minutes of the movie focused on Pooh and Christopher Robin sitting

on a tree trunk. Pooh asked Christopher Robin what day is it? Christopher Robin quickly responded ‘it is today’. Pooh smiled and said, good, it is today, that’s great because when it was yesterday, it was too much of a day for me. This was a key point when Christopher replied, it is today, we are witnessing his turning point, indicating that he found his essence, his carnal self would have given the day and month. Hebrews 3:13 says,

“But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”

Earlier when Pooh said, it always a sunny day when Christopher Robin comes to play is the moment when he established who he was, just as we do when we repent and ask God to be part of our life. Pooh recognized that Christopher Robin was no longer lost. He had found himself, he reclaimed his essence while searching for an answer to his dilemmas and searching for his daughter who was much like him. Sometimes it is to do nothing when we have been tasked with finding the answer.

Doing nothing for Christians is stepping back and going into prayer asking God for direction. We are instructed to be still and wait on the Holy Spirit to direct us, in so doing we step away from our carnal, sinful self and rely on the Lord. Why is forging ahead without Gods direction carnal? Our carnal self is self-serving, conceited, and stubborn, seeking to draw attention to self and not the intended outcome.

Generally, as we search for purpose, we grow as Christians and eventually receive Christ as our Lord and Savior. In so doing, we reclaim our person in Christ and relinquish our carnal self. However, like Christopher Robin, we can slip into the chaos of the world and lose ourselves. As long as we live in this world we will be challenged, sometimes we need to step back, be still, and let God lead us.

Images – Google Images

Scriptures – BibleGateway.com