There were so many phenomenal insights in this paper, I hardly even know where to begin. The first thing that stuck out to me was his statement about us being "half-hearted creatures, fooling around with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us...we are far too easily pleased." This quote is made me think of the things I want and why I want them. We talked in class about how we shouldn't ask for something to see what we can get but in order to bring glory to God. As a woman who has experienced a lot of rejection and abuse by men in my life, I think my deepest desire in life is to be loved by a godly man and to have a relationship with him-the kind that I talked about in an earlier post. However, I want this for myself. I never really thought about wanting it for the purpose of bringing glory to God.
Another idea that I took from this paper is "the scriptural picture of heaven is therefore just as symbolical as the picture which our desire, unaided, invents for itself." I find myself daydreaming like, 90% of the time I'm awake. My desire to be loved creates in my mind a modern day fairytale romance that quite often is unrealistic-that is, probably won't ever happen that way. However, our relationships here on earth give us a picture of what our relationship with God will be like in heaven, only, that WILL be the perfect romance and nothing is unrealistic!
Next comes Lewis' view of glory. He says that there are two ideas of glory for him; "either glory means to me fame, or it means luminosity," the first of which "seems wicked and the other ridiculous." Lewis looks deeper into the "fame" side of glory as not fame with fellow creatures but fame with God. We all want to hear God say to us, "well done my good and faithful servant" just like a child takes pleasure in praise from an elder. This, says Lewis "is in fact the humblest, the most childlike, the most creaturely of pleasures--nay, the specific pleasure of the inferior: the pleasure...a child before its father...a creature before its Creator." I never thought about this either but it sure makes me feel better for desiring that affirmation and accepting it as an important image of heaven. If we truly work to bring God glory, we will get that great reward of affirmation from the one who Created all!
The last quote I want to emphasize from this paper is "Nature is only the first sketch." First of all, I think that Lewis meant all of earthly Creation-since Nature implies only the "natural" and I would like to think that the mountains and the ocean (abiotic factors) are part of the sketch. I also think that relationships, culture, and other intellectual and leisurely activities are part of this sketch. This made me shiver with anticipation. I am already so in love with God from experiencing earthly creation. If Creation is only the first sketch, and it already possesses an exquisite beauty that is in itself almost unbelievable to us as humans, I can't even imagine what heaven will be like!!! How much greater are the relationships in heaven going to be? Think of the most beautiful place you've ever been on earth and the time when you were so happy you couldn't stop smiling and laughing-and now multiply that times infinity-that is what heaven will be like and that is unimaginable to our mere human minds.
I really like how you talk about the beauty of heaven and love as well. It's so amazing, and even quite impossible, to think that love and creation as we see them are just a mere shadow, just a misty form of the real thing. Creation is awesome, love is awesome. How on earth can these get any better? Well, I for one can't wait to find out.
ReplyDeleteI love how your enthusiasm is so visible because I felt so excited about this sermon as well. There really is so much truth hidden in it and so much beauty. The idea of glory being that childlike desire to be praised really struck me as well. How many times do we confuse pride with simply our desire for glory? We become so scared of pride (and understandably so because it is possibly the most difficult sin to avoid) that we lose sight of glory.
ReplyDeleteFirst: kudos for using the phrase "abiotic factors" in an essay on C.S. Lewis.
ReplyDeleteSecond: I really liked your idea of separating relationships and culture and stuff like that from "nature." I think I would agree that these things are most likely not the 'first sketch' Lewis is talking about. Relationships especially are a way in which we image God. I think that should give them more weight than some of us give them, because in them we are more closely imaging God. They have more power in helping us understand God than Nature does. But this greater power also means a greater potential for danger. As always, we should approach these things with eyes wide open.
I think it is interesting that you talked about your desire for a loving relationship with a godly man a selfish desire. I think that God gives us longings for a reason. I was talking to my Barnabas about this very same topic a couple weeks back. We discussed that God can lead us through our desires. I think we must be cautious to use our desires because they can easily be misguided by sin, however, if we ask God to take away our selfish desires and help us to want what God wants, God can revile himself to us in our unselfish desires. Sure God hasn't intended marriage for everyone, but if you have faith that he will lead you and ask him for guidance, he will either help you find a godly man or help you to get through without a husband and perhaps even take the desire for a husband away.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I really like what you said about glory as being acknowledged by God. As Christians we always talk about struggling to know God and how it is our task to get to know Him better. But I'm not sure if we think long enough about the fact that we are known by God.
ReplyDeleteThat God actually knows us and acknowleges us, and when we become part of his glory we will be fully known by God.