Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory Parables continued…

The children have all gotten their tickets. They have arrived at the factory for their tour, and the first room they go to is the Chocolate Room.

Chocolate Room

The Chocolate Room is the first room that the many different people are able to go into. It is said that everything in this room is eatable: the pavements, the bushes, even the grass. There are trees made of taffy that grow jelly apples, bushes that sprout lollipops, mushrooms that spurt whipped cream, pumpkins filled with sugar cubes instead of seeds, jelly bean stalks, and spotty candy cubes. The main icon of the room is the Chocolate River, where the chocolate is mixed and churned by the waterfall, but must not be touched by human hands. Willy Wonka proclaims, “There is no other factory in the world that mixes its chocolate by waterfall.” Pipes that hang on the ceiling come down and suck up the chocolate, then send it to other rooms of the factory, such as the Fudge Room, and Augustus Gloop is sucked into one pipe after falling into the river while drinking from it. (Wikipedia)

After Augustus is sucked up into the pipe, the Oompa Loompas sing a song and here is part of it:

Inside the room to which he’s gone
Some funny things are going on.
But don’t, dear children, be alarmed;
Augustus Gloop will not be harmed,
Although, of course, we must admit
He will be altered quite a bit.
He’ll be quite changed from what he’s been,
When he goes through the fudge machine:
Slowly, the wheels go round and round,
The cogs begin to grind and pound;
A hundred knives go slice, slice, slice;
We add some sugar, cream, and spice;
We boil him for a minute more,
Until we’re absolutely sure
That all the greed and all the gall
Is boiled away for once and all.
Then out he comes! And now! By grace!
A miracle has taken place!

Keep in mind that all of this is fiction, and no child was actually harmed, but let’s look into this scenario:

When we are saved, we obtain our Golden Ticket. The first days and months of salvation feel like a wonderland. Everywhere we go, everything we see, it is all glorious. We are on top of the world, as we should be! We begin to pray for God to use us, to mold us, and shape us according to His Will and Purposes. Then, He does. That’s when things get difficult. Trials come through difficult times. We feel like we are growing, but why is it so painful? Growth is often slow and painful in life. Temptation surrounds us, the world presses in, and we wonder where did our wonderland go? It’s still there, everything in God is still glorious, but now God is changing us. He has to prove and refine us so that we can truly be used for the purpose he has for us. Just as Augustus could not go into that pipe and come out the same, neither can we enter into a life of salvation and stay the same. This does not happen without effort on our part and a willingness to be molded.

Today, someone was unhappy with  me. To someone else they said, “This one really broke the mold”. I laughed inside because I couldn’t help but think of what I would have liked to replied if I had of felt it appropriate. I would have said, “Sir, there is only one mold I want to fit into and that’s not it.” You see, the only mold I care to resemble is the one of Jesus Christ! However, in trying to do just that, the situation called for me to hold my tongue and say nothing. Sometimes trying to be an example of Jesus will require you to do the opposite of what your flesh wants to do. Actually, that is what it requires all of the time.

The Bible says:

1 Peter 1:6-7 (New International Version)

⁶In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. ⁷These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

After Augustus has gone through the pipe and has been changed, he is then released back out into the world. After we have let God change us, He too will send us back out into the world to share His glory and grace with all we see.  They will see us as new creatures and will know that we have gone through a real experience! Rejoice, the trials are only for a little while!  It will all result in praise, glory, and honor for the Lord!!