"One must face the fact that all the talk about His (God's) love for men, and His service being perfect freedom, is not (as one would gladly believe) mere propaganda, but an appalling truth. He really does want to fill the universe with a lot of loathsome little replicas of Himself - creatures whose life, on its miniature scale, will be qualitatively like His own not because He has absorbed them but because their wills freely conform to His. We (Satan's servants) want cattle who can finally become food; He wants servants who can finally become sons. We want to suck in, He wants to give out. We are empty and would be filled; He is full and flows over. Our war aim is a world in which Our Father Below has drawn all other beings into himself; the Enemy wants a world full of beings united to Him but still distinct."
My small group has decided to read and study C.S. Lewis' book The Screwtape Letters. What I love about this book so far is that it is so incredibly cleverly written and it also describes the human heart perfectly. I read this and I see all the tricks for which I fall, all the ways that my humanity allows me to be distracted or tries to stray from what God has for me.
This was only our third week but in chapter 8 I came upon the above passage that I think beautifully describes why being a follower of Christ is an incredibly freeing thing. Most people view religion - Christianity included - as something that boxes you in, gives you rules, tells you a long list of "do nots". Life must be stuffy and boring so that you can be a good person who follows all the rules. I would argue that this is not true of Christianity. It is not about what is taken away from us - it is about what is given to us.
A major aspect in Christianity that people miss, and often misunderstand, if that of free will. In fact, the misunderstanding of free will is a reason people frequently use to deny the existence of a good God. They don't understand how God can be a good, loving God if there exists pain in the world. Pain is here because God allows us, as humans, to have a free will. We get a choice - we can choose to follow Him and His ways or not. When we choose not to follow a good, loving God, then we choose our own way which, as humans, is all too often a selfish way that looks out for our own best interests and pleasures. We have a very narrow view that is not about others and therefore pain and ugliness spread by our own choice because of our own selfish actions.
If He were loving, He wouldn't allow that, right? Not when you consider it from this angle - God created us for relationships, particularly one with Him. Which of us would want a relationship in which the person with us is forced to be with us? They didn't choose - they were made to be there. How would we ever know they truly loved us? We know someone loves us because they choose to be in a relationship with us. If they are allowed to walk away and yet they don't...we know they love us. They could be mean and selfish, but they choose not to be. They choose to respect us and put our needs above their own. They want to make us happy.
This is how I view my relationship with God. He has reached out to me. I accepted. I chose to love Him. If I truly love someone, I want to please them. It is not about being forced to follow 'the rules'. It is about wanting to follow 'the rules'. I don't have to follow the rules if I don't want to. And, in fact, if I screw up and choose not to follow the rules, God still loves me and still pursues a relationship with me. My relationship with Him is not based on my actions - it's based on my desire, on my choice.
As many of us have experienced here on earth, when someone constantly pulls away from us, hurts us, disregards our wishes, we question if they love us. Their actions do not match their words. We, as humans, demand their actions prove their words. God, being all-knowing, does not demand our actions prove our words because He sees our heart. Still, one must question the heart if the actions don't match up. Are you taking from the relationship without giving back? I think as a Christian matures, their actions more often line up with their words (though humanity sneaks in so this wanes at times).
Basically, what this means in my life that I choose to follow the rules - I am not forced to and I know at any time, I can chose to not follow the rules. My salvation is not hanging on it. It's like having a person in your life who says, "No matter what you do to me, no matter what you are, I will always love you and always desire a relationship with you and want to draw close to you. " That is beautifully freeing. How can I not return a love like that?
I have found that the "rules" set forth in the Bible, though I really believe the word "guidelines" is a better description, are there for either my own protection, or for the protection of others. For example, the two greatest commandments, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart" and "Love your neighbor as yourself" only make the world a better place. If I love the Lord, who loves me unconditionally, I enter into an incredibly giving, secure relationship. If I love others as myself, then I put their needs before my own, therefore I should bring joy, not pain, to those around me.
How about the "fun" things - like drinking and sex? Isn't He trying to keep me from that? Well, let's think about it. How much pain has alcohol brought into the world when it is abused? It doesn't say I cannot drink at all - just to not get drunk. I've never been drunk, so I can't really speak to the joys of being drunk, but I can see the pain that alcohol has brought to friends whose fathers were alcoholics, or people who have been involved in accidents due to drunk driving, or abuse that happens because people become angry drunks. I can see that many many people run to alcohol because they don't feel secure in who they are so in order to relax and have fun with others, they need the drink. I can see that people drink to forget their problems, and yet, when they return from their drunken stupor, the problems are still there - they haven't gotten any better. I can see that sex when taken out of the appropriate context brings emotional scars, children born into unstable family situations, spread of diseases, and it cheapens a gift that could be given to a person who you love because it has been given already to others. These guidelines, if followed, would actually bring much healing to the world, not pain. Isn't that worth some amount of sacrifice on our part? Can't I say no to temporary pleasure for the greater good?
Can I choose to still do these things and be in a relationship with God? Sure. Again, His love is unconditional. I am free to do as I wish. I may suffer the consequences of foolish behavior, but does God turn away from me? No. Can I choose to turn away from Him? Yes. The beauty is that as I learn to trust God, and I see His plan unfold in my life, I begin to understand there are reasons He says what He does. As I learn to say no to my selfish desires and say yes to unselfish things, I find more joy and satisfaction in life and less pain. That is freeing. I learn to be content with what I have and not pine after that which I cannot have. That is freeing. I learn to trust that there is a plan for my life and it is meant to bring good, not pain, and I don't have to worry about the future. That is freeing.
As I get older and see God work in my life, I see He really does pour into me. He really is full and flows over. How do I not choose to love that? How do I not choose to be in that kind of fulfilling relationship? What if I couldn't choose and that was forced on me? It might be good, but would it be so satisfying? Would I even know it's good? As I get older, I also see evil at work in the world. I see the choices of people and the repercussions. They become slaves to their problems. They become slaves to their addictions. They become victims to their circumstances. They are slaves to their selves. I see chains pulling them down. I feel my chains pulling me down when I make poor choices or allow my selfish desires to get in the way of what I know is right. I want to be free. When I taste what it is like to not be free, I understand the beauty of freedom all the more.
I find my freedom in Christ.
2 comments:
Very wise my friend. It reminds me how much I will miss our conversations at work. I'm glad you're enjoying Screwtape. If your group or just you want to pursue this further, I highly recommend CSL's *the Problem of Pain* in which he deals directly with all the issues that you have raised here in insightful ways. Pain, Heaven, Hell, everything. One insight that CSL has is that in effect, when our first parents suffered the fall of humanity, however one wants to interpret the story, one thing that can be read from it is that they were saying to God, "We want to set up for ourselves, without you." And God basically said, "Ok, try it." Your blog covers human sin, but not "acts of God". This second thought does. CSL says we suffered a loss of status as a species, going from a flesh/spirit hybrid that had control over nature and death to a flesh/spirit hybrid totally out of control of its animal side and of death. CSL speculated that Christ's miracles like the walking in water were not only a preview of the abilities of the resurrection body, but echoes of the abilities we lost in the fall. Interesting stuff. Keep writing. Love to hear from you.
Very well said!
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