I think this might be the first time I’ve blogged about a fairy tale, but Cinderella has been one of my favorite stories for a long time.

Did you know that IMDb lists 200 movies containing “Cinderella” in the title. I’m sure you’ve seen at least one of them. I’ve seen at least ten. And that’s not including all the modern-day retellings of the classic story and the only opera I’ve watched all the way through: La Cenerentola by Gioachino Rossini.

There are probably several reasons why this 17^th century folk tale continues to resonate with audiences all over the world. One of those reasons is Cinderella’s hope to better her circumstances even when those circumstances seemed hopeless. The name Cinderella has even become associated with sports teams making unexpected wins over teams everyone thought they had no chance to beat.

In many modern retellings of the story, Cinderella is a spunky girl (or guy in some movies) who finds a way to change her circumstances on her own. But in the animated Disney version most of us remember, Cinderella has little power to change her life. She can only wish and dream.

She does try, though.

Most movie versions of Cinderella have that classic moment when Cinderella appears in a dress of her own making ready to attend the prince’s ball. But her jealous stepmother and her two inferior daughters can’t have that. They ruin Cinderella’s dress and all her hopes along with it.

I’ve never known of anyone at that point saying to the TV or movie screen, “That’s okay, Cinderella. Go and change. You have plenty of dresses to choose from.” We know she doesn’t. Even the dress she made (with the help of mice and birds in some versions) wasn’t really fit for a royal ball. There is nothing else in her closet except the worn out clothes of a cleaning girl who often sleeps among the cinders.

That’s where the Fairy Godmother comes in.

A stunning ball gown designed to catch the eye of the most reluctant prince at a bride-finding-ball can’t be made by a poor servant girl. It requires more assistance than mice and birds. It requires magic of some kind. So, the Fairy Godmother appears and whips up a magnificent new gown for Cinderella with the help of her magic wand—and a golden carriage with horses to get her to the ball.

The audience joins together in a deep sigh, and Cinderella is off to meet her prince.

Is there a Christian lesson we can learn from this story?

I think there is.

As the culture wars in the United States have heated up over the past few decades, I have heard so many terrible things said about non-Christians living according to non-Christian morals and pushing their non-Christian ideas into the mainstream. Christians groups and individuals have risen up to win the culture war by pushing for morality-based laws, influencing school boards, and demonizing anything that doesn’t match up with their ideas of good Christian conduct.

“Go, change your ways!” they yell at the evil-doers, as if those people could change their inward identity as easily as we can change our clothes. We seem to think they can. The Bible says they can’t.

Some things can’t be achieved without supernatural intervention.

In the book of Ephesians, Paul talks a little about dressing up to impress the King of the Universe. He tells us to put off (or take off) such things as lying, stealing, brawling, and sexual immorality (Ephesians 4:25-31, 5:3-4). And he tells us put on such things as kindness, forgiveness, truth, and righteous living (Ephesians 4:32, 5:9).

But Paul also explains that not everyone can do this. Not everyone has the right kind of clothes in their closet. Living the kind of righteous life that truly pleases God is only possible if we have been changed by the supernatural act of accepting God’s grace and forgiveness through faith in Jesus Christ.

So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.

That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:17-24, NIV)

In other words, we don’t have to act like the people of the world because we have other options. We have better clothes in our closet we can choose from. They do not.

There are perks to living in a palace.

When Cinderella married her prince, I doubt she took any of her raggedy clothes from home to hang in her big, walk-in closet in the palace. I’m sure the prince gladly paid a whole team of seamstresses to make clothes for Cinderella that would be the envy of the kingdom. As the wife of the future king, she had a new identity and an image to live up to.

When we were welcomed into the Kingdom of God, we were given something even better—the power to live lives truly pleasing to God. We can put on the beautiful attributes of love, peace, joy, kindness, steadfastness, and true charity to others. Those outside the walls of the Kingdom will never be able to live up to the same standards. They don’t have those choices in their closets.

Cinderella’s stepmother and stepsisters were quick to mock Cinderella’s usual poor clothing. They even mocked and ruined her best attempt to appear to be something she wasn’t. Let’s not do the same thing. Let’s recognize the cause of unrighteous living, and let’s spread the cure—because all the good clothes are in the Kingdom’s closets.

Learn more about how to live your life as a part of God’s story here.