“We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” ~ C.S. Lewis, from The Weight of Glory
So darkened is our expectation of life in the world, so clouded is our hope because of the veil of sin, that we cannot imagine a world righted of all its wrongs; a world of justice, freedom & peace. Yet, this is the Christian vision of heaven, this is redemption applied at the consummation- a new heavens and a new earth under the rightful rule and reign of the triune God of the Universe- Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
It is this expectancy that becomes the trick of the Christian journey. The tension of a Kingdom that has come, is here now, and yet is coming in fullness presents a challenge for the follower of Christ, and still a vision for ultimate reconciliation. We are tempted, as those still under the veil of darkness, to fumble around with lesser idols of our time, passions that fail to fully satisfy. We work feverishly, filling cisterns that we know will not hold water. We labor to build kingdoms of prestige and power that will fail to persevere but that give us temporary relief, comfort and notoriety. “These things,” writes Lewis, “the beauty, the memory of our own past- are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the real thing itself, they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshippers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.” (Lewis. The Weight of Glory) To live in the present, joyfully surrendered to the authority of the King who has come and is coming again to make all things new, will direct us away from false idols and vain “self-medications” that cannot yield eternal rest or fulfillment. Lewis’ expectation of infinite joy is realized when we recognize the kingship of Jesus, labor for his name and renown presently and wait patiently for his return. Christ is the reality, the substance that shatters all myths.
“Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak.” ~ C.S. Lewis, from The Weight of Glory
So darkened is our expectation of life in the world, so clouded is our hope because of the veil of sin, that we cannot imagine a world righted of all its wrongs; a world of justice, freedom & peace. Yet, this is the Christian vision of heaven, this is redemption applied at the consummation- a new heavens and a new earth under the rightful rule and reign of the triune God of the Universe- Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
It is this expectancy that becomes the trick of the Christian journey. The tension of a Kingdom that has come, is here now, and yet is coming in fullness presents a challenge for the follower of Christ, and still a vision for ultimate reconciliation. We are tempted, as those still under the veil of darkness, to fumble around with lesser idols of our time, passions that fail to fully satisfy. We work feverishly, filling cisterns that we know will not hold water. We labor to build kingdoms of prestige and power that will fail to persevere but that give us temporary relief, comfort and notoriety. “These things,” writes Lewis, “the beauty, the memory of our own past- are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the real thing itself, they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshippers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.” (Lewis. The Weight of Glory) To live in the present, joyfully surrendered to the authority of the King who has come and is coming again to make all things new, will direct us away from false idols and vain “self-medications” that cannot yield eternal rest or fulfillment. Lewis’ expectation of infinite joy is realized when we recognize the kingship of Jesus, labor for his name and renown presently and wait patiently for his return. Christ is the reality, the substance that shatters all myths.
“Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak.” ~ C.S. Lewis, from The Weight of Glory
"...I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst." ~ John 6.35 ESV
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