"We are mistaken when we compare war with "normal life". Life has never been normal."
I believe C.S. Lewis' point here is that war, hard circumstances, pain, none of these things are excuses for failing to seek knowledge as a person should. There has been no time of complete peace in all of human history. There are always social problems if there are not wars. There are always some feelings of discontent if there are no social problems. To put it simply: life will never be perfect. It is an easy thing to make excuses as to why we should put our lives on hold and focus entirely on the war, or whatever problem we are facing. To do this, though, is to lessen oneself. It is reducing yourself to one dimension when before you were so full.
In applying this to religion, Lewis points out that when we become Christians, for most people their lives do not dramatically change. Thinking about God is a beautiful thing, but even religion cannot hold our attention all the time, Lewis says. What being a Christian should change is the attitude and spirit in which you do those things. We do not all have to quit our jobs and become missionaries to other countries, we simply have to make our faith evident in our daily life. I know for me when I decided on my own right to be a Christian rather than simply accepting my parents' faith I at first though "well, I should probably go to seminary, then". While I think my heart was in the right place in that my life should be devoted to God, not everyone can be a minister. I realized that it wasn't my calling, and I simply needed to bring God into my life, no matter what I do.
In the essay, Lewis also mentions some the things that can get in the way of us doing our work, our enemies. He mentions excitement, frustration, and fear. Excitement is an interesting one, because it is normally considered a positive emotion rather than a negative one, but it at times is our enemy. In class we also mentioned that things like tradition, religion, even love can sometimes be our enemy if we let it get in the way of living the kind of life we are meant to live.
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You raise a good point about nothing ever being perfect. We live in a fallen world, and nothing is ever going to go according to plan, or how we want. It is interesting all the things that get in the way of our studies, while excitement would be considered a positive emotion, we defenitely need to channel it into a proper focus and energy.
ReplyDeleteI liked your second paragraph and how you put that into your own life. It's true that although we are Christians are lives won't be that different than a non-Christian's life, but that our attitudes, spirits, and the way we live our lives will be.
ReplyDeleteThis was a great post. I also liked how you explained the change of heart when someone becomes a Christian. This change in attitude is very difficult though, and you need to focus on God constantly for help.
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