The Velveteen Rabbit

( I don't know that this lesson will do you much good unless you have the book The Velveteen Rabbit: Or How Toys Became Real as the lesson follows the book)

Read until Rabbit asks what is Real – the rabbit is like a person in the world - worth is determined by how others view him.  Rabbit wants to be loved and accepted but listens to what those around him say.  Everyone in the room wants to be REAL.  Take a moment and answer Rabbit’s question for yourself. What is real?

Continue reading

REAL is something that happens to you, when you are REALLY loved.  It can be painful and it is a gradual process.  Becoming a real christens is similar.  It happens when you finally realize you are REALLY loved by Christ and His Father.  While your acceptance is the first step, the rest of your life is a journey to becoming REAL, ending when you stand in the presence of God.  You don’t earn God’s love, He loves you, end of story.  (Romans 5:6-8)   The people who break easily, have sharp edges or have to be carefully kept are also in the world.  These are the ones who step away from God when things get tough and stop trusting Him.  They refuse to repent of their sins, or they avoid the hard parts.  Think about the parable of the sower (Luke 8:4-14)  all have the same information available, but not all grow from it and trust.   I read in Eat Your Peas:  Faithfully by Cheryl Karpan  “For the faithful, accepting change and opportunity is a time of growing in God’s love and becoming all we are meant to be. Are you willing to give up what is for what could be?”  Those who don’t become REAL are those who aren’t willing to give up what is for what God has for them. 

Once you are Real, you can’t be ugly (despite all that has happened in your life, all you have done wrong) except to people who don’t understand (p. 10)  God doesn’t see all of our ugly anymore no matter how the world views us, what they know of our past, how we have messed up, how unworthy we really are, God sees us as beautiful.  (1 samuel 16:7, Ecc 3:11)

p. 14-15  The Rabbit was pulled out of what his routine in life was and placed into a situation that was at first very uncomfortable for him.  He was squeezed, smothered, lonely and missed what he had before.  God also pulls us out of our comfort zones and places us in situations that are uncomfortable.  Sometimes, like in the Rabbit’s case, it is done to help others during a time of need in their own life.  Rabbit accepted what had happened and over time began to see that it wasn’t so bad after all.  He became what he needed to in order to fulfill a need and in the process he began to be happy, despite the toll it was taking on him.  Part of becoming REAL is sacrifice, being willing to give up what you want so that you can serve others. (1 John 3:16, John 15:12-13)

p. 17-23  As Christians we have to be careful that we don’t begin to think that we have achieved REAL even though we are still on the journey.  Rabbit wanted to be REAL so much that he allowed himself to be convinced he had achieved it, despite the evidence that proved otherwise.  We have to be always compare ourselves honestly to what is REAL, God’s Word.  While the Rabbit may have resembled a rabbit, inside he was still stuffing and thread.  It is our hearts that God looks at and it is our hearts that will show us to be REAL or not.  Becoming real is more than just believing.  Being a Christian is more than just believing in Christ, the demons believed in Jesus and they weren’t Christians. (james 1:19)  Believing is part of being real (Hebrews 11:6), had the rabbit not believed he would have had nothing to strive for, no purpose or goal, but it wasn’t the end of the journey, just the beginning.  Sometimes we deceive ourselves, hiding from reality, and we get hurt, or hurt ourselves as we are trying to serve God, just as Rabbit was hurt.  We have to be willing though to examine ourselves, to consider the truth of the life we are living. Galatians 6:3

Another point in this section is the real rabbits.  They were a stumbling block for our Rabbit.  Quick to point out how he wasn’t REAL, how he couldn’t do what they could, and then run off and leave him.  These real rabbits remind me of Pharisees.  They represent the Christians who are so caught up in who they are that they don’t think about how their words and actions affect others.  They are quick to point out wrongs and yet disappear rather than assist Rabbit in truly becoming REAL.  Romans 14:13 tells us not to be a stumbling block, not to judge others.   We have to be careful that we encourage each other on this journey to becoming REAL.  (1 Thess 5:11, Hebrews 10:24-25)

p. 30  Again Rabbit’s situation is changing, the journey to becoming REAL is one in which things don’t always happen as we think they will.  Rabbit stayed true to the situation he had been placed in, gave everything he had to it, thought that he was going to be rewarded with a trip to the ocean, only to discover that his situation was changed again.  He felt discarded and was set aside.  Things looked very dark for Rabbit.  We will have dark times on our journey also, times when we feel that perhaps the situation is unfair, or that we are alone.  Perhaps we will feel like all of our actions have been in vain and that we have wasted a part of our life.  James 1:2-4 tells us that these times are tests of our faith and they help us to grow more real.

P. 34-39 Rabbit didn’t hold it all in and pretend like he wasn’t upset.  He was honest about how he felt, just as we need to be honest about our feelings.  It was because Rabbit was honest and allowed the tear to fall that the fairy came.  She came to make Rabbit real.  I believe that we will also stand before one who will make us REAL and that He also will ask if we know who He is.  Our life here on earth is like being real to the Boy.  God surrounds us with people who love us, people who are willing to help us on our journey to becoming Real.  They may only be in our life for a short time.  They may be people that we must sacrifice for and become ragged for as we learn to love selflessly and completely.  They may move on from us and leave us behind.  We may get hurt by them and we may feel loved by them.  It is our responsibility though to give them our love, to give them everything we have so that we can be REAL to them because one day Jesus will stand before us and ask if we know him. 

So what do we learn about becoming real from Rabbit.  First, we need not compare ourselves to others.  (Gal. 6:4, 2 cor. 10:12)  Second, becoming real hurts (1 peter 4:12) but it will help us grow (romans 8:28).  We can’t become comfortable and deceive ourselves about what we really are (romans 3:23, 1 timothy 4:1).  We need to encourage each other (1 Peter 4:8-10, Heberws 10:24).  Finally, we learn that we have to share everything with God (phil 4:6-7, psalm 27:14, 2 cor. 9:8, prov. 3:5-6, 1 peter 5:7)

See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are!
1 John 3:1 (NLT)