Some Great Lewis Quotes!

So I’m reading the The Problem of Pain by C. S. Lewis and came across some great thought provoking quotes in his chapter “Divine Goodness”. Enjoy!

“It is good for us to know love; and best for us to know the love of the best object, God.”

“Our highest activity must be response, not initiative.”

“A man can no more diminish God’s glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word ‘darkness’ on the walls of his cell.”

“God wills our good, and our good is to love Him…and to love Him we must know Him: and if we know Him, we shall in fact fall on our faces. If we do not, that only shows that what we are trying to love is not yet God.”

“To be God – to be like God and to share His goodness in creaturely response – to be miserable – these are the only three alternatives. If we will not learn to eat the only food that the universe grows – the only food that any possible universe ever can grow – then we must starve eternally.”

“God is Enough”

I saw this video in a missions class at Southeastern and it rocked my world. It forced me to analyze my love for the things of this world. If I lost my home is God enough. My husband? My child? My health? Is God enough? If he is not, then I buy into the health, wealth, and prosperity “gospel” that I know is a lie. What a challenge to make God enough…and to therefore display him as the most glorious treasure anyone could ever receive.

“God takes sin seriously”

I had an Old Testament professor at Southeastern that constantly said “God takes sin seriously”. It was hard not to follow his train of thought since we constantly read of God’s sever acts of judgement upon his people whenever they sinned against him. I was reminded of God taking sin seriously today when I read about a sin that King David had committed in 1 Chronicles 21…and no it’s not the Bathsheba one. David decided to number the Israelites, and God was displeased with his choice. As a result God wiped out 70,000 Israelites. So obviously God took David’s sin seriously! But I also saw the mercy of God at work in this passage. The Angel of the Lord was also going to destroy Jerusalem, and for some reason David and the elder could see this Angel of the Lord with his sword drawn to destroy their city. Could you imagine! How terrifying! They fell on their faces pleading, and then God answered through Gad. David was to build an alter at Ornan’s threshing floor. This story is great! When David gets to Ornan’s place, Ornan and his sons are hiding because they saw the Angel of the Lord too! Still, I cannot imagine the terror they felt! But God did not destroy Jerusalem. As the fire from heaven set the sacrifices ablaze on that alter and smoke filled the air God’s wrath was calmed and the Angel of the Lord put away his sword.

It is a great reminder to consider our sin before an Almighty God. Our sin puts the terrifying wrath of God upon us. It saturates us in darkness and death. But it is also a great reminder of God’s mercy. That his wrath for our sin was poured out on his son Jesus. That in Christ we are no longer marked by our sin but by  his righteousness. We are saturated in light and life in the fullest! Praise Jesus!