The Influence of the Ring (LOTR)

I have loved the story of The Lord of the Rings for a long time. I love the books and the movies. I was watching The Return of the King(3rd movie) the other night. At the beginning of the movie we find out how Gollum came into possession of the ring. Gollum was once named Smeagol and was a lot like a hobbit(a half size human). Smeagol and a friend were fishing in a river. The friend found the ring at the bottom of the river. Smeagol and the friend fought over the ring. Smeagol killed his friend because he wanted the ring for himself. The ring has a lot of bad power because Evil made the ring. The ring's influence and Smeagol's flesh(selfishness) drove him to kill for the ring.

Smeagol went into hiding with the ring. Smeagol forgot the taste of food and the smell of the wind. He even forgot his own name. That is when he became known as Gollum. Smeagol's appearance started to change because of the ring. The ring turned Smeagol into Gollum, an evil creature. There were several things that were significant for me in all of this. The ring represents sin in our lives, it is evil. The ring's influence in Smeagol's life drove him to kill his friend. That is exactly how the ways of the world influence our lives. The ways of the world mixed with our sinful nature are a bad combination. If we allow ourselves to be immersed in the ways of the world we will become a lot like Smeagol. The influence of sin in our lives slowly turns us into our own Gollum. We completely forget who we were before. The physical change that Smeagol experienced as he turned into Gollum is a representation of the change that will take place in our hearts. As Pastor Jerry said last Sunday, we fall so easily to the ways of the enemy. We must be on our guard.