Mere Christianity.

After a semester of a chapter here and a chapter there, I finally finished C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity. Mission accomplished. So many golden nuggets in that book. Instead of trying to state everything I learned from that book (because first of all, if you haven't read it, you need to; second, it would take forever), I just want to go over one small interesting thought that this brilliant man leaves the reader with. In his last chapter "The New Men", Lewis tries to describe the transformation that occurs when an individual gives his or her life to Christ.

We read in the bible that Christ talked about losing and finding yourself. As Christians, we are supposed to lose ourselves in Him in order to find ourselves. Alright, so we set aside "who we are" (our dreams, goals, desires, where we find value, and what not; these things that define the individual), and fill that space with Christ, his goals and desires. Lewis states that the logical conclusion of all this would be that we are being transformed into little "christs", all exactly the same. Woah, there! Not so, he claims.

Lewis goes on to give an analogy of what happens that I find extremely interesting. Here is a rough paraphrase: Salt has a very strong flavor. One would think that adding it to a food would make the food taste just like salt; however, rather than change the flavor, the salt brings out the natural flavors in the food so that they are more defined. The salt makes the food even more brilliant with a richer, more unique flavor.

"The more we get what we now call 'ourselves' out of the way and let Him take us over, the more truly ourselves we become."

When Christ comes into the life of an individual, a beautiful thing occurs. That person is filled with His Spirit and can now be who he was made to be. No longer is he confined and bound by natural, sinful desires, his upbringing, societal norms, etc. He can be fully who he was made to be, a being unique and loved by God, fearfully and wonderfully made to be in a loving relationship with his Creator.

It is so interesting that mankind tries so hard to be the same. We try to fit in, yet, at the same time, strive for individuality. We are swayed so much by culture and the norms we were raised with. Peer pressure, not just a term reserved for middle schoolers. How could a God who created such individuality, so that not one man's genetics are the same as any man before or any man after, desire us to strive for "sameness"? We have an incredibly creative Creator.

How do we find who we are made to be? By losing ourselves in Christ. It begins to make some sense in my mind. Thank you, Clive Staples.

"Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favorite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end: submit with every fibre of your being, and you will find eternal life. Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in."

Be soft.

I can be somewhat of an idealist at times. This can be both a good and a bad thing. When I focus too much on the imperfection of the world, it causes me to be very critical of all those around me and often leads to cynicism. That's the bad end. When I let my idealism enable me to empower those in my circle of influence towards what is good, right, and noble, that is the good end. So often, I find myself on the wrong end of the spectrum. It is so easy to become hardened when one sees the darkness that man inevitably and constantly gets caught up in. 

How do we keep ourselves soft? How do we remain feeling and sensitive to the needs of those around us? I find it to be easier to hide myself in a hard bubble of a cynical attitude. How do I break that? 

I realized that I can't.

I cannot be released from this on my own. It's my protection from the hardness of the world. I will always be drawn back into it. The only way I can break free from this is by being pulled out of it and attaching myself to something more firm and unbending, and yet infinitely loving. Something transcendent of the darkness. Something that gives light and life.

How do I remain soft in the hardness of the world? By firmly planting myself in the love of God. Being filled to overflowing with His goodness that I cannot be hard towards the world which is in such need of Him. I can no longer hide in my bubble of judgment because I see that I am being pulled out of the same mire as the rest of mankind. 

What makes this world beautiful? I could say all the normal Christiany things such as, "well, God created it" or "it reflects His beauty", both of which are completely true. But what makes this world uniquely beautiful to me? Because it is the one place where we see such incredible contrast between darkness and light. I am able to see the pit of despair I have been pulled out of, and the hope and joy I have been brought into. It was the contrast that brought me to Him, but it is He who keeps me ever seeking His truths.

My encouragement for the day is to be soft. Make it a point to remain sensitive, feeling, and caring for even those you may see as the worst of mankind. Because in reality, we are all lost sheep trying to find our way. 

Infinitude.

This last Sunday, I was an extra for a video promo that my friend is doing for my church. He told us to sit down in the chairs or couches that were set up and act like normal. I decided to sit on a couch and read a book. I randomly grabbed one of the books off a shelf, picked a random chapter, and started to read. I just so happened to pick this wonderful book titled The Attributes of God by A.W. Tozer. Absolutely beautiful. Here is a portion of what I read that I think is incredibly powerful:

"Infinitude is an attribute of God. And it is impossible for God to be anything and not be completely, infinitely what He is. It is possible for the sun to be bright, but not infinitely bright because it doesn't have all the light there is. It is possible for a mountain to be large but not infinitely large. It is possible for an angel to be good but not infinitely good. Only God can claim infinitude. When I say that God is good, that God has a kind heart, I mean that He has a heart infinitely kind and that there is no boundary to it. When I say that God is good-natured, good and kindly of nature, I mean that He is infinitely so."

How do we reason that God is infinite in such a way, that whatever He is, He is infinitely so?

Job 11:7-9 "Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than the heavens above--what can you do? They are deeper than the depths below--what can you know? Their measure is longer than the earth and wider than the sea."

1 Kings 8:27 "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!"

Isaiah 55:9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

If God is so unfathomable, how can we even begin to understand Him? An unanswerable question, I think.

Like all theologians, Thomas Aquinas tries to shed some light on the enormity of God's person. In one of his proofs for the existence of God, he makes an argument from the gradation of human values. If someone or something is good, there is something greater.

"Things are said to be more and less because they approximate in different degrees to that which is greatest. A thing gets hotter and hotter as it approaches the thing which is the hottest. There is therefore something which is the truest, the best, and the noblest, and which is consequently the greatest in being." -Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae

God is that which defines our human values. He IS goodness, mercy, justice, truth, and so on. How do we even dare to call ourselves sons and daughters of a God so infinitely powerful?

Our God may be a complete mystery, a fathomless ocean of magnitude and power, but he is also good and loving. If He is infinite in all his attributes, like my good friend Tozer claims, then He is infinitely merciful, infinitely gracious. This is what causes Him to give Himself to redeem us. And for that, I am forever grateful. How can I not attempt to climb the great mountain of discovering who He is when I begin to see such incredible truths as this?