Three years. Three movies. Countless buckets of popcorn and a lifetime of memories. The world has been enraptured by, arguably, the greatest film trilogy ever created. For the past three Christmases we have laughed, we have cried, we have cheered. The Ring of Power has been tossed into the fires of Mount Doom, Aragorn has been crowned king of Gondor, Frodo and Gandalf have sailed off from the Grey Havens, Samwise is back in the Shire—settled down and raising his own halflings—and Peter Jackson is counting his 11 Academy Awards (including the long sought-after Best Picture of 2003)... not to mention the $3 BILLION (and counting) in worldwide box office sales.

Now we are left with one all-important question: WHAT WAS THE MORAL OF OUR STORY?

I think I can offer one very plain and very simple answer:

Everybody has a Ring.

Our Rings are not exactly the same. But we all have one... more than one.

In each of our lives, God has given us a task, a bold and brave challenge: to return our own personal Rings of Power to the fires of Mount Doom for eternal destruction. The One Ring was symbolic of bondage and enslavement. The dark lord Sauron used his Ring to oppress Middle-earth and to dominate his will over every Hobbit, Dwarf, Elf, Man and every living creature through the land. As long as Sauron held possession of the Ring, destruction would always prevail.

Middle-earth was given a chance for survival when the Ring was cut from Sauron's hand. But instead of destroying the Ring, the evil desires of Men stayed its final execution and the peril and destruction was allowed to continue.

It is the same with us. The crucifixion of Christ slashed the power of our Rings from Satan's hand. But OUR evil desires have stayed the final execution.

Everybody has a Ring. For one, the Ring may be pride. For another, the Ring may be jealousy. For another, envy. For yet another, lust. For others of us, the Ring is greed. For others, the Ring is the relentless pursuit of success. For some, it's abuse, or addiction, or gambling, or fear... The list goes on and on.

Many Rings we carry. Some have been passed down from generation to generation. The Rings have enslaved our grandparents, our parents and they seek to enslave us as well. But the Ring is a burden, an intense and extremely heavy burden. There is only one way to deal with the Ring. It Must Be Destroyed.

Some of us were under the impression that, like Frodo, we'd only carry the Ring so far and then pass it to another. But as the Orcs and Ringwraiths sought after the Hobbits to reclaim the Ring, so Satan sends his principalities, powers, rulers of darkness and spiritual wickedness into heavenly places after us to reclaim our Rings and prevent their destruction.

But God, in His love and faithfulness, rescues us. He uses His Son Jesus Christ to give us salvation and to gather us among all His chosen people. Week in and week out, the call is issued: The Ring Must Be Destroyed.

While some of us argue about the proper doctrine and technique of Ring destruction and others argue about how the Ring can be used for (our own selfish) good, the story hinges on one bold declaration...

I Will Take The Ring To Be Destroyed.

This is the call that God makes to all of us. Who is bold enough to take the Ring back to the fires of Mount Doom? Who will step up to the plate and offer the Ring for destruction? Who will step up and end the rage? Who will destroy the spirit of pride in this family? Who will destroy the spirit of lust, the spirit of greed? Who will end the abuse? Who will destroy the spirit of anger? Who will answer the call?

As illustrated in Isaiah 6:8, Frodo answered the call. "Send me."

However, we can't destroy the Ring alone. We will need a strong and faithful Fellowship.

We need bold swordsmen and warriors like Strider to protect and watch over us. We will need the bow and arrow of Legolas to fire God's darts back at the enemy. We will need the fearless axe of Gimli, who will be ready to stand and fight with us and for us no matter what the situation. We will need the wisdom and leadership of Gandalf, who will speak life into our souls when all hope is lost. We will need his confidence when we can't find confidence in ourselves. We will need the laughter and companionship of Merry and Pippin to help make our perilous journey sweeter and enjoyable.

Most of all, we need a faithful friend like Samwise Gamgee. We need Samwise to help us stay focused, to help us keep our eye on the prize. When Satan sends his flying serpents, his Nazgul to kidnap our purpose, and we consider throwing in the towel and surrendering the Ring to him, we need Samwise to push us out of harm's way and save us even when we don't want to be saved.

We will loathe Sam and try to force him out of our lives. We may even draw our sword against him. But his love, compassion and commitment to us will remind us that Sam fights for us, and not against us.

Not only will we need our own Fellowship, but God calls us to be members of a Fellowship for others too. We need to be warriors for others. We need to draw our axes, bows and arrows for others. We need to bring joy, laughter and companionship to others. We need to be faithful friends, ready to save other Frodos from themselves at a moment's notice.

We need be wise mentors and leaders for others. The same wisdom that the Gandalfs in our own lives provide to us, God calls us to dispense to others. He doesn't allow us to go through things without reason. His will is that when others enter our lives and their Rings are too hard to bear, we can be confident and believe in them when they can't believe in themselves. Through our experience with the Lord, He may even grant us Gandalf-like power to deliver kings from bondage and restore them to the throne... to once again "breathe the free air."

There are other parts for us to play in this tale as well. Some of us, mostly God's daughters, will have motherly wisdom like Galadriel. These mothers/sisters will come into the Ring-bearer's life and give priceless wisdom and instruction and gifts to assist in the journey.

Some other sisters will be strong like Éowyn. They will not be content to stay on the sidelines. They will be fearless and step into battle. They will use their swords to destroy evil.

Some of us will have to play the role of Elrond and make the decision not to stay on the sidelines and to send out our own armies to assist in battle. Some of us will have to step into the life of those who choose to be Strider and remind them of who God says they truly are.

All of us have a kingship in the Kingdom that God calls us to. Because of the shame of our past, we avoid it and choose to walk in a different identity. But through the wisdom of Elrond and Gandalf, and the love of Arwen, we can accept our rightful identity as an heir to God's throne. Like Abram to Abraham, like Jacob to Israel, and like Strider to Aragorn, God will give us a new name, our rightful name! He will proudly restore our sword for battle. We can step out of obscurity and become great warriors and ascend to the throne that God has ordained for us!

As Satan sends his Orcs, Uruk-hai, Witch-kings, Nazgûl and Oliphaunts to pursue us, there is another enemy pursuing the Ring. He is Gollum. The Ring is his Precious. His lust for the Ring consumed him and wasted him away.

Gollum is the parent who ridicules you for following God. He is the "friend" who makes you feel silly for going the church. He's the former football teammate who teases you for being faithful to your wife and not going to happy hour after work. He's the girlfriend jealous of you because you got married and she didn't. His motivation is your destruction. He wants The Precious for himself.

What's more dangerous is where this enemy can be found. You see, this "ENEMY"... is "IN-A-ME."

Yes. We all have a Gollum/Sméagol conflict within ourselves. The Bible calls it the war between the Spirit and the Flesh. While Gollum represents our evil, Smeagol represents what is good and pure in our hearts. Gollum doesn't trust Master. Sméagol wants to trust and believe Master. Sméagol believes Master is faithful to His Word and will not hurt us or betray us. Gollum calls the Master "tricksy and false." Sméagol wants to believe that Master will never leave us nor forsake us. Gollum tries to convince us that we will be forsaken because of our sins.

Some of us have found ourselves in situations where the Gollum and Sméagol in us have wrestled for control. Some of us have even experienced victory over Gollum and he disappeared... for a season. But some of us, due to heartbreak and disappointment by those whom we love and trust, have allowed our Gollum side to return and take up permanent residence in our souls.

Gollum turns us away from Samwise. He loathes and hates Sam. He uses lies and betrayals and mistrust to turn our hearts against Sam. Trusting Gollum will lead us into battles with horrible spiders and other agents of Satan. With God's help, we can overcome Gollum when his true motivations are revealed.

Everybody has a Ring. There are days where we will stand along the beach with the Ring in our hands and declare what Frodo said: "I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had ever happened." But God will remind us of Gandalf's truth that it is up to us to decide what we'll do with the task laid before us.

As Sauron and his servants attack us, our Fellowship may find itself scattered in different directions fighting different battles along the way; and we'll be left with Samwise, our best and most faithful friend to help us along the path. We will get tired. We will get weary. We will collapse from exhaustion. But we can trust God to infuse His strength into Samwise who will boldly declare "I can't carry the Ring FOR you... but I can carry YOU!" And finally, through the blood of Jesus Christ and the power of His resurrection... up to the day of His promised return, the Ring will be destroyed. The eye of the evil one will explode. The tower of Mordor will collapse. We will be crowned as kings. We will journey to eternal life where 1 John 3:2 declares "we shall be Like Him." We will return to our own personal Shire and, like Sam, declare "I'm home."

That's what I learned from The Lord Of The Rings. Everybody Has A Ring. The question: What Will You Do with Yours?

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