The Bible, J.R.R. Tolkien And The Meaning Of LifeSample

The Slow Poison of Sin 

Sin has a way of slowly getting to us. It is so attractively packaged that the warning signs can easily be ignored. From our first glimpse of it and every experience thereafter it slowly takes control of us and we are unaware of its effect. We might imagine that we are in control of sin but sin gets the better of us and we are controlled by it. The creature Gollum was once Smeagol - a Hobbit - until he found the ring and was possessed by it and forgot who he really was. 

The experience of sin is a very strange experience; we hate it and love it at the same time. We love it enough to try it repeatedly but at the same time hate it when we realise what it has done to us. We begin to live out two realities. It splits us and we create spaces where these two contraries can exist simultaneously, until it is too late and ‘we have no will in the matter.’

Gollum is only the physical representation of what sin can do to our soul. Sin slowly creeps in and before we realise it our souls have become unrecognizable. Gandalf, unlike the others, is not angry with Gollum, he only feels pity. Though he feels there is no hope for Gollum, he believes that the evil part of him can only be conquered or cured. Conquered and cured by what? Love!

Eventually, Frodo shows Gollum love and he begins to remember that he was once Smeagol. Despite that, Gollum eventually falls to his death clutching the Ring. Any one of us can turn into Gollum. And we, like Gollum, have been given a chance to be conquered and cured by love. We have a choice too, we must choose to let go of sin and embrace love. 

Jesus is the personification of love. While we are struggling, Jesus meets us and lovingly reminds us of who we were once (Ephesians 4:21-24). When we allow the Holy Spirit to work in us he turns us into characters that will be fit for heaven. The Holy Spirit will slowly tone our spirit into the likeness of its maker (Romans 8:15-16).

If the sight of Gollum makes us cringe, then the influence of sin on our soul must make us cringe just as much. But all is not lost we still remember a bit of the original score. Throughout history, God has been dropping clues and the final piece of the puzzle is complete when we meet love, Jesus.