A reproduction of one of C. S. Lewis' letters to an American Lady, written in his hand on 27 November 1953. He admitted that his penmanship was not the best.

February 27, 2025 / 0 comments

More on Understanding God’s Word

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

  • 2 Timothy 3:16-17

The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.

  • 1 Corinthians 2:14

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

  • 1 Corinthians 1:18

“I read the Imitation [of Christ] pretty nearly every day, but it’s rather like creatures without wings reading about the stratosphere.

  • C. S. Lewis, Letters of C.S. Lewis to Arthur Greeves

On Tuesday, I quoted Oswald Chambers who said that the Bible is the Word of God and as important as breathing to the believer, but the concept of “the Word of God” is meaningless to the nonbeliever.

The last 1 Corinthians quote basically says that, and I did not use it on Tuesday.

The Thomas à Kempis book, the Imitation of Christ, first published in 1418, is on many pastor’s bookshelves.  When I read it, it seemed that every morsel of the book was fresh honey from the comb, the cherry on top of the whipped cream, or getting the king in your piece of king cake just before the start of Lent (Cajun or Louisiana tradition).  Maybe all those rolled into one, but the book really paraphrases the Bible, placing the paraphrased verses in an order that make logical sense.

No wonder so many pastors have this book on their shelf.  For someone trying to make a logical point on this or that principle of Christianity, they go to the book and find the Scriptures that back up a logical argument.

The book could be a great sermon starter, or a series of sermons, all laid out logically.

But for C.S. Lewis, talking about reading the book daily before he became a Christian, his metaphor is apropos.  Even with wings, what does a penguin or an ostrich know about the stratosphere?  Sure, you can read about it, but it does not make sense until you experience it.

And so, regardless of all the apologetics and evangelism arguments against taking steps of blind faith – for we know God…

We do not know God until we take that first step.  And when that first step is genuine, a 100% surrender to God’s will, God reveals Himself to us.

But before the new Christian takes that step, it all seems foolishness.

So, why do they take the step?  They are missing something, and God is pointing the way.  They might think it utter foolishness, but they have tried other paths, and everything got worse.  And if they are like I was, they feel desperate, needing someone who will be there for them.  Thus, they take that step toward God and find that it was not foolish at all.  It saved their lives.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.

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