What do the Velveteen Rabbit and Job have in common?

What does it mean to be “real?” What does the word “real” mean? A quick look at a dictionary will give the following definition, “not artificial, fraudulent, or illusory : GENUINE 〈real gold〉 also : being precisely what the name implies.” Merriam-Webster
C. S. Lewis makes the following observation about reality or what is real:

"Reality, in fact, is usually something you could not have guessed. That is one of the reasons I believe Christianity. It is a religion you could not have guessed. If it offered us just the kind of universe we had always expected, I should feel we were making it up. But, in fact, it is not the sort of thing anyone would have made up. It has just that queer twist about it that real things have. So let us leave behind all these boys' philosophies--these over simple answers. The problem is not simple and the answer is not going to be simple either."

Lewis is so right! If you try to rationally look at the Good news we proclaim it really does sounds insane, as Lewis puts it, “something you could not have guessed.” Just consider this one thing. You and I would plead with God to save us from an eternal hell, but would you ever…ever have thought to ask Him to save you by sending His Son to die a horrific death in your place? It just not something you would ask the Sovereign of the Universe. All throughout scripture we see God working and moving…unfolding the story of Redemption…in unexpected ways. HIS STORY IS REAL!
So the Story is real, but what about us, what about the people in the Story…are they real? I recently watched and read parts of the Velveteen Rabbit with my kids. There is an amazing conversation that sheds some light on this topic. What does the Velveteen Rabbit, or more precisely, the Skin Horse have to say about becoming real? Let’s take a look.

"Real isn't how you are made,' said the Skin Horse. 'It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.' Does it hurt?' asked the Rabbit. Sometimes,' said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. 'When you are Real you don't mind being hurt.' Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,' he asked, 'or bit by bit?'
It doesn't happen all at once,' said the Skin Horse. 'You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

What does this have to do with becoming real? What does this have to do with Abraham, Job, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph? Randy Alcorn makes brings clarity when he said, “We make a huge mistake of thinking that God is simply preparing a place for us, without preparing us for that place. God is preparing us to rule righteously as servant kings over the world He has for us.” Did you catch that? Jesus tells us in John 14:1-3 that HE is preparing a place for us in heaven and I believe Alcorn is right and that the message of Romans 8:28 and the book of Job is that God is preparing us for that place!
Romans 8:18, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed to us.” Paul says almost the same thing in 2 Cor. 4:17, “This light and momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.” You don’t have to wonder what Paul considered light and momentary affliction, he tells us in 2 Cor. 11: imprisonments, beatings, near death, lashes, stoned, shipwrecked, toil, hardship, sleepless nights, etc.
So the sufferings of this present time, this light and momentary affliction IS PREPARING for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. John 14 is absolutely true, Jesus is preparing a place for us, but God’s Word clearly reveals that HE is preparing us for that place and the work we will do in that place.
You see we think that our circumstances are our biggest problems, what was Jacobs biggest problem? His character flaws! Joseph was a man of integrity throughout and yet I believe that his sufferings prepared him for heaven. Our circumstances are not our biggest problems…our biggest problem is our own character flaws, or lack of integrity etc. So our “suffering is preparing for us an eternal weight or glory,” but it’s not only because of character flaws. As we saw with Job and Jacob not every suffering is because of disobedience. We see this most beautifully in our LORD.
In Hebrews 5:8 the author makes one of those UNEXPECTED statements! “Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.” Wait a minute, God Incarnate LEARNED?

Though always without sin (4:15; 7:26) and thus always obedient, Jesus nevertheless acquired knowledge and experience by living as a human being (cf. Luke 2:40, 52), and he especially came to know firsthand what it cost to maintain obedience in the midst of suffering (see notes on Heb. 2:9; 2:10; 2:18; 4:15). As Jesus “increased in wisdom and stature” (Luke 2:52), successive temptations were no doubt more difficult to deal with (cf. Luke 4:12), and as he obeyed his Father in the face of each temptation, he “learned obedience,” so that his human moral ability was strengthened. Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (2368). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

The pattern is amazing to me! Do you see the progression in the life of the Son of God? It reaches its pinnacle at Gethsemane and in the Cross, we see this in Philippians 2:8 “And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
Jesus did not become real, HE always was and always will be real! HE did open the door, His flesh being torn opened the way for us to become “real.” Reflect on the stories throughout God's Word…you see this pattern over and over. Abraham, Job, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph became “real.”
John Newton said it well in a song titled “I Asked the Lord that I Might Grow,” “These inward trials I employ From self and pride to set thee free; And break thy schemes of earthly joy, That thou mayst seek thy all in Me.”
Remember the words of the Skin Horse, 'You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."
Romans 8:15–17 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
Loving HIM, pursuing HIM, becoming “real” together!
Mark