The essence of this chapter is to tell us that God does not stop with just okay. As a believer in Jesus, or what has been called a Christian, God starts to make changes with you. His changes, His way. We have free will to turn away from God, or to push Him away. But, as a believer, you don’t want to do this. csLewis wants us to know the truth of being a Christian. We need to know that it will be continual change for as long as we live, not always easy and nice, the way we would like change to come, not just the stuff that what we would like to have changed, or in the time we would like change. As Lewis would put it, God gives us, in Jesus, the full treatment. And we should not be surprised if we are in for a rough time. It’s like a home remodeling project that doesn’t end…and you are the house. God comes into the house, and starts remodeling the kitchen, and just when you think He is done, He starts on the living room, then an add-on, and a few colour changes, and on it goes, until He makes you home…or takes you home…or both.

C.S. Lewis has reminded us what is the whole of our belief in Jesus. There is one thing, one purpose. Something that is not where we usually look or how we usually think.  And in this one thing, we continue to look for compromise, to hold back, and make things harder in the long run.

God wants us to give Him our whole natural self.  Your natural self and all of its desires and wants. All the ways of thinking of the old self.  All the ways of seeing of the old self.  

It is really the very simple idea of giving God our natural self, and listening to the voice of God.

A simple idea to understand how to do, that is a bit hard to remember to do, and hard to understand why it’s so important, but, it’s what God wants for us for the long run.

The compromise is to think we can keep some of our self. We do this out of fear, and not trusting that God does what is best for us.  The way our mind and heart naturally go is centered on money, pleasure and ambition, and at the same time we think we can behave honestly, chastely, and humbly.

Lewis says in this chapter, “For make no mistake: if you are really going to try to meet all the demands made on the natural self, it will not have enough left over to live on. The more you obey your conscience, the more your conscience will demand of you.  And your natural self, which is thus being starved and hampered and worried at every turn, will get angrier and angrier. In the end you will either give up trying to be good, or else become one of those people who, as they say, ‘live for others’ but always in a discontented, grumbling way–always wondering why the others do not notice it more and always making a martyr of yourself.  And once you have become that, you will be a far greater pest to anyone who has to live with you than you would have been if you had remained frankly selfish.”

Wake up and see the wishes and hopes that are yours.  Give them to Jesus.  And listen to His voice.  Take the time to listen often and throughout this day.  Breathe, listen, and do not compromise with your God. Become open to the idea of God making you into something new.  His own.

And i will say it again…

Breathe in the breath of Jesus and Live. Do not hold on to the death of what you were.  Open your eyes and see His truth, that does not deny you of life, but, gives you life, now.  Take your fears, and your fussing and worry and ask God to take it, along with all of the things that you think are good and bad…everything, every day, hand it over with an open heart, and then… listen.

Be drawn into Christ.

I wrote about my dream church the other day.  The fact is, i know it’s a dream.

I tire of seeing all the things that are wrong in every part of life, churches included, but, that’s the way it is, because there isn’t one person that does anything without fault.  It is a bottomless pit to go there or to point others attention toward it.  One must actually do something better than to point at it.

The better things that we can do is to encourage each believer to look for Jesus in any situation. And if we feel the need to point, we can surely point others toward Jesus. And last but not least, pray at all times and in all things.

When we point at the things that are not Jesus, we may get people’s attention, but, this only leads toward the darkness.

I understand the dream for a group of believers to be true and as one, as i would also like to see this and be a part of it. It’s just that, in this life, we can only look through our flesh. We see the brokenness of only some people and forget that everyone is broken.  Every human is broken.  Every one…every single one.

The closest we can get to this true and perfect oneness, that we desire, is for each one of us to look to Jesus and point others to Jesus, as much as we can.  Sometimes we get a glimpse of God’s Spirit working through this brokenness.  In Jesus, we are a church, part of a Spiritual Body, connected to the Truth and the Life, by the Holy Spirit.

Believers,
You are always in the church…
and you can only see it if you are looking at Jesus.