Blacklight Chalk Art
The Temptation of Mr. Tumnuss
Look at scene four, “Mr. Tumnus’ House”, or click on the two scenes above; if you have the DVD good Stop just after Lucy comes back through the Wardrobe. Once again, when you finish allow me to explain what is happening.
Lucy found a very large Lamp Post in Narnia’s forest and as she was standing there trying to figure it out, she heard a noise. It turned out to be Mr. Tumnus, and they both scared each other when they first meet. After a short conversation he invites Lucy to his house for tea, cakes, and sardines, sardines, yuck. It was at his house that Mr. Tumnus was going to make Lucy sleep and turn her over to the White Witch.
It was good that he did not go through with the plan but let her go. This second section of our Journey is the Roadside area known as “TEMPTATION”.
It did not take Lucy long to meet a very exciting person did it. Of course he was not a person at all but a faun known as
“Mr. Tumnus”.
He was very nice to Lucy and seemed harmless enough, until later on in his home. Lucy did not know that he was a spy for the White Witch, who called herself “the Queen of Narnia.
Her orders were that if he, Mr. Tumnus, met a son of Adam or daughter of Eve, he was to trick them in to his home and place them in a sleep. Once he or she was asleep, Mr. Tumnus was to bring them to the White Witch.
Poor Mr. Tumnus almost did a terrible thing to Lucy, but he did not do it. What happened to Mr. Tumnus is what we call temptation.
“What is Temptation?” you say.
Well let us stop and look at it.
Lesson Principle
In the story Mr. Tumnus had a choice to do what was right or to do what is wrong, or bad. The “bad” choices are called “sin or sins” in the bible. That choice and the way he looked at it was his temptation. You see, temptation is always the hard choice to do the bad things and not the good, like
Mr. Tumnus had to do with the White Witch’s plan.
Look at It this Way:
THE GOOD: Be a friend to Lucy and not give her to
the White Witch.
THE BAD: Do exactly as the White Witch wants, and
turn Lucy over to her.
I am so glad that Mr. Tumnus did what was good and did not do as the White Witch wanted him, or was tempted to do aren’t you?
Did you see in the movie what caused Mr. Tumnus to stop and not do what he was being tempted to do? If you said the fire image of Aslan roaring caused him to remember the good way, you are right. If you don’t have the DVD let me explain. As Lucy drank the special tea, that caused her to go to sleep, she saw figures dancing in the fire before she fell asleep. When she went to sleep Mr. Tumnus looked at the fire and Aslan’s fire image appeared and scared him. He remembered the good way and stopped his bad plan to kidnap Lucy.
Bible Principle
The Bible tells us all about temptation and this is very important for you to know. Look at what the Bible says about Temptation. Here is what it means.
TEMPTATION
Definition
It is a trick to sin and do bad things, with the promise that it is good but really, it is the way of disobedience. The trick is that you may think it is good and then do it, but later on you will find out it is bad.
Look at these Bible verses:
James 1:14-15
14 but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
Let me put it in to words you can understand:
“We all are tempted because we are selfish and we do what we want to do. But after we decide to do what we want, we do bad things called sin and it leads us to punishment.”
Ever did something and your Mom or Dad would get upset and ask you “Why did you do it?”, and you really don’t know?
It is because we did it out of selfishness, what you wanted. It is a condition that the Bible calls “Our Sinful Flesh”
The word “flesh” in the bible means that part of you that makes you still act with bad actions, what the Bible calls “Sins”. We’ll call it our “Bad Side” for now.
Bible Principle II
There is also a rule to temptation. Many people think that when a bad thought comes in to our mind we have sinned, that is not true. It is what we do with that thought that determines if it becomes sin or not. Let me explain.
Let us pretend that a boy or girl did something that made you get angry and a thought comes in to your mind, “Hate Him, or Her!” Now what you do with that hate thought is temptation. Jesus tells us “Love Our Enemies”, the devil says, “Get back at them or hurt them.” Now you have a tough choice, Love or Hate? The Temptation is to do what your selfish flesh or bad side wants and hate and not do like Jesus’ wants and Love them. When we choose what we want we sin, but when we choose what Jesus wants we do not sin.
Application
How do we not give in to temptation?
You don’t have the power to resist temptation, but here is how to not give in to temptation. You have three very strong helpers, who will give you the power to not give in to temptation and help you resist or refuse to accept it.
These three very strong helpers will guide you as you walk this Christian road.
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Jesus Christ
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The Holy Spirit of God
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The Holy Bible
First of all, Jesus gives you the freedom to choose the good over the bad. Listen to me; you now have a “Choice”. Before you were saved you had to do the bad things. Jesus changed all that and now you have the power to choose through His power inside you.
Look in the Bible with me, ok?
"Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it."
Let me say it in a different way. “Be careful not to think you cannot be tempted, you are too strong, you will fail every time. Don’t think that your temptation is strange, everyone is tempted; but God (JESUS) will always make a way for you to get out or away from temptation and He will make sure you are always strong enough to say no.”
Romans 8:12-13
“Therefore, brethren, we are debtors -- not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”
Let me again say it in a different way. “Now, we belong to someone else not to our bad flesh or bad side, to do what it wants us to do; if you live and do bad things you will not be happy, but if you live by what Jesus’ Spirit wants you to do, you will choose good over bad every time and be happy.” We have a choice to be happy living for Jesus or not be happy living for ourselves.
"Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."
One more time let me say it another way. “We have someone in Heaven who cares for us, Jesus our High Priest; therefore, let us be true to Him. Jesus will always understand how we feel because even the devil tried to tempt Jesus, but He did not sin. So we need to come to Jesus with trust to pray for help or forgiveness when we are tempted or in need.”
Second, the person who now lives in our hearts, He represents Jesus, and is called the Holy Spirit. He will give us the power to say “NO” or to get out of temptation.
The Bible says, in Romans 8:11-15,
11. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
13. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 . For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
15 . For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out,"Abba, Father."
Let us say it this way, ok?
12. The Spirit that gave Jesus the Power to come back to life in a new body lives in you; He, the Holy Spirit, will give you the power to say “No” to the bad things of the flesh or the bad side.
13. If you live your life by the “selfishness of the flesh”, it will make you unhappy until the day you die; but if you do what the Spirit tells you, you will be happy all your life.
14. Because you are a child of God and you have the Spirit living in you.
15. You are now able to choose good not evil and that is because you are saved and a child of God; now, you have the right to call GOD your “FATHER”.
The third helper is the “Holy Bible”. The Bible will give to us the rights and the wrongs about life, and how to live your new Christian life.
That is why the Bible says in 2 Timothy 2:15,
“15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
In other words, “Study the Bible to the point that God likes it, to the point that you are not embarrassed if someone asks you a question about the Bible; making sure you know what the Bible is truly saying.”
Ever been asked a question about the Bible and not know the answer? It’s embarrassing isn’t it? So read and study the Bible. Listen to the pastor and teachers as they teach or preach; also listen to your Mom, Dad, or both.
It helps to always listen to these people and ask questions so you may learn more and more.
Many times we don’t want to listen to good advice because it goes against what we really want. Take Edmund for example. He heard the White Witch say,” You will be King of Narnia someday”. He liked that, no more listening to bossy Peter! Then Lucy tells him she is a witch not a queen. He did not listen. The beavers the same story, and he did not listen to them. It was not until he was a prisoner that he started to believe the stories. You may want to look at both the scenes of “Hail the Queen” and the “Witch’s Lair” to see that this is true. In Hail to the Queen the White Witch pretends to love Edmund, giving him her warm robe to wear, drink and Turkish delight. But in her home, she gets angry with Edmund and puts him in jail.
Now let us look a little deeper in to this idea of “temptation”, with some activities that will help you and remind you of what you have learned; but first, here are some more verses for you to think about. I will give you the words from the Bible, and then I’ll put them in to words that may help you understand the passage easier.
Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust."
“No Christian should say that God is tempting him or her to do evil; it is impossible for God to be tempted to do evil or to tempt anyone else. But when you are tempted it is because of your bad side, your flesh, which wants you to sin and do the evil you are being tempted to do.”
"Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will run away from you."
“Be obedient to God’s will, refuse to give in to the Devil’s tricks by listening to Jesus, and he, the Devil will run away from you.”
"Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world."
“Be on guard, be serious and wide awake. The Devil, who is our enemy, acts like a hungry lion running around looking for food to eat. But fight back at the Devil’s tricks, live by your faith in Jesus, because your other brothers and sisters in Christ are going through the same things as you are right now.”
2 Peter 2:9a
"Then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation."
“Jesus knows exactly how to rescue the Christian from his or her temptation.”
Digging Deeper Activity
1. Write below, in your own words, something you have done that was selfish.
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What would have been the right thing you should have done instead?
3. Who or what are the three things that you have that can help you do the good and not the bad thing?
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Who are the people in your life that help you know the Bible?
In James 1:14-15 we find these words.
14 but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
Let me put it in to words you can understand:
“We all are tempted because we are selfish and we do what we want to do. But after we decide to do what we want, we do bad things and it leads us to punishment.”
What do you think this verse means to your life? Once again you may get your parents help. Write below your answer.