The Genius of C.S. Lewis

I think that recently I have come to appreciate far more the genius that God gave C.S. Lewis. Having been an atheist for such a long period in his life he met Jesus and had his life completely turned on its head.

At the moment I am reading Mere Christianity, one of his all time classics and it is just jam packed with goodness.

Here is one thing that I thought especially great when he was talking about finding satisfaction:

The reason why it (anything other than God) can never succeed is this: God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.

What an amazing thought! Out of all the things I look to give me satisfaction nothing can fulfil me fully because it is not God. One day it surely will be this way though when we are satisfied in Him forever!

I urge you, if you havent before, read works by C.S. Lewis.

The Gap of Eternity

Below is a video from Matt Chandler called ‘The Gap of Eternity’ where he talks of how the empty promises of many things in life can’t fill the ‘gap of eternity’.

I think C.S Lewis sums up so brilliantly why not:

‘Most people, if they have really learned to look into the own hearts, would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise. The longings which arise in us when we first fall in love, or first think of some foreign country, or first take up some subject that excites us, are longings which no marriage, no travel, no learning, can really satisfy. I am not now speaking of what would be ordinarily called unsuccessful marriages, or holidays, or learned careers. I am speaking of the best possible ones. There was something we have grasped at, in the first moment of longing, which just fades away in the reality. I think everyone knows what I mean. The wife may be a good wife, and the hotels and scenery may have been excellent, and chemistry may be a very interesting job: but something has evaded us.’

Taken from Mere Christianity by C.S Lewis

The gap of eternity cant be filled by anything in this world. It is filled by the eternal God.

Why Me?

Roger Carswell

Why Me? by Roger Carswell is a book containing 8 short stories of people who’s lives have been hugely changed and affected by horrible circumstances they have been through. From disabled and dying children to murdered spouses, this book will move you as you read it.

Instead of writing a work of Christian Apologetics about suffering and evil Carswell instead just hand picked 8 individuals who all testified to the grace of God in their lives. They all talk of how God had used their bad circumstances to bring about good and how all of them seemed to have a deeper relationship with the living Lord as a result of what they went through. Some even said they felt the tangible presence of God with them as they went through their tragedies.

This book will certainly move you and hopefully helps us all to see how God is always in control. He will always bring about good for those who love Him (Rom 8:28).

I liked the way the book was finished. Carswell reflects on how the Christian in someone who has God to thank when everything is going well but they also have a God to cry out to when everything is going wrong. He is a God who will always listen and never abandon us, the God who said

“Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”         Matthew 28:20

It is an amazing thing that God should care about us, but He does!

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.       1 Peter 5:7

John Piper is incredibly wise on the subject when he comments in some of his poetry

Beware the thought that all is vain, in time God’s wisdom will be plain.

C.S Lewis described pain and suffering as being God’s megaphone to rouse a deaf world, this is so often true. It is so often in the darker times of life that people ask questions of the meaning of life and what the point in life is when there is so much hurt. Thank God that we have a God who knows what it is to suffer, and who is always with us.

This Psalm I have found to be hugely encouraging to me:

Psalm 121

A song of ascents.

I lift up my eyes to the hills—
where does my help come from?

My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;

indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;

the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.

The LORD will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;

the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.

The Lord will watch over our coming and our going, in this life and the next, now and forevermore!