Breathing the Air of Narnia

How the Lord’s Day Restores the Christian Soul

In Prince Caspian, C.S. Lewis describes a moment when Edmund rediscovers a strength he did not possess the day before. Lewis writes, “The air of Narnia had been working upon him ever since they arrived on the island, and all his old battles came back to him, and his arms and fingers remembered their old skill. He was King Edmund once more.”

It’s a stunning picture. Edmund doesn’t learn anything new. He doesn’t train overnight. He has simply breathed of Narnia’s air and his courage returns, his memory clears, and his heart steadies. His true identity resurfaces. All the old strength that had lain dormant awakens.

That is what the Lord’s Day is to the Christian. Every Sunday is a weekly return to the true country and a breathing in of a better air. Every Sabbath brings recovery of spiritual clarity and strength.

If you belong to Christ, the Lord’s Day is the day when you become yourself again. It is a day when faith clarifies, hope steadies, love rekindles, and a Christian remembers again who God is and who she is in Him.

Our Weekly Restoration

Most Christians know what it feels like to end a week spiritually weary. The symptoms are familiar: prayer feels dull, Scripture reading feels heavy, temptation feels strong, anxieties multiply, joy leaks away, sin feels close, God feels far.

But the Lord has woven a remedy into the very structure of time itself: one day in seven, blessed and made holy, set apart for rest and worship. The Lord’s Day is not some arbitrary rule. God has given it to us—a gift to the the tired and the overwhelmed.

Why the Lord’s Day Refreshes Us

The Sabbath is not first about what we must do, but about what God has done and continues to do for us. Just as a shepherd brings his sheep to quiet waters for refreshing drink, so God has ordained a day for worship because He intends to nourish His people. He knows how easily we will drift if not reminded again and again of His tender care and mercy, so He comes to us upon this day of rest and consecration.

On the Lord’s Day, God recalibrates our hearts the way a compass needle settles back to north. He reminds us:

• who He is: Creator, Redeemer, Lord

• what He has done: Christ risen, sin defeated, death undone

• who we are: forgiven, adopted, beloved, secure

• where we’re going: toward the eternal Sabbath rest of Christ’s heaven

The Lord’s Day Helps Us Remember Who We Really Are

The first day of the week is the day Jesus rose from the dead, the day death was undone, the day new creation began. It is named the Lord’s Day because it bears witness to what He has done for us.

Every Lord’s Day reminds you that you are not what Monday (or Saturday) makes you feel like. You are not what your anxieties accuse. You are not your most dreaded temptations.

Christian, you were dead, but are now alive. You were enslaved, but are now free. While you once stood far off from God, you have been brought near. And though you were wandering, you have been brought home. You are God’s in Christ.

The Lord’s Day makes you remember. The air of the Christian Sabbath works upon you, and all your old battles come back to you, and your arms and fingers, your will and your affections remember their old skill. You are who you are in Christ once more.

A Weekly Taste of Glory

Richard Baxter once wrote: “Use your Sabbaths as steps to glory, till you have passed them all, and are there arrived.”

Every Lord’s Day is a step upward. A step toward the everlasting rest. A step further into the joy of Christ. Not because of what you do. But because of what God had done and promises still to do.

The Christian who keeps the Lord’s Day in faith is the Christian who breathes deeply the air of the coming world — the world where sin is no more, where joy is full and rest is eternal.