“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.
As the rain and the snow
    come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
    without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
    so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
    It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
    and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
You will go out in joy
    and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
    will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
    will clap their hands.
Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper,
    and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the Lord’s renown,
    for an everlasting sign,
    that will endure forever.”

• Isaiah 55:8-13

The law of the Lord is perfect,
    refreshing the soul.
The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy,
    making wise the simple.
The precepts of the Lord are right,
    giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the Lord are radiant,
    giving light to the eyes.
The fear of the Lord is pure,
    enduring forever.
The decrees of the Lord are firm,
    and all of them are righteous.
They are more precious than gold,
    than much pure gold;
they are sweeter than honey,
    than honey from the honeycomb.
By them your servant is warned;
    in keeping them there is great reward.
But who can discern their own errors?
    Forgive my hidden faults.
Keep your servant also from willful sins;
    may they not rule over me.
Then I will be blameless,
    innocent of great transgression.
May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart
    be pleasing in your sight,
    Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

• Psalm 19:7-14

“You must picture me alone in that room at Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England. I did not then see what is now the most shining and obvious thing; the Divine humility which will accept a convert even on such terms. The Prodigal Son at least walked home on his own feet. But who can duly adore that Love which will open the high gates to a prodigal who is brought in kicking, struggling, resentful, and darting his eyes in every direction for a chance of escape? The words compelle intrare, compel them to come in, have been so abused by wicked men that we shudder at them; but, properly understood, they plumb the depth of the Divine mercy. The hardness of God is kinder than the softness of men, and His compulsion is our liberation.”

• C.S. Lewis, Preparing for Easter (from Surprised by Joy, chapter “Checkmate”)

Boilerplate

First, the concept of Lent is the preparation for what is to come, the anniversary of Christ’s death and resurrection between Good Friday and Easter Sunday.  But in some denominations, the entire time from Advent, the anticipation of Christ’s coming (remembrance of His birth but preparation for His return) to Easter (Christ’s resurrection from the dead)…  This bracket of time is a celebration of the entire life of Jesus Christ on earth.  Christ’s conception to His ascension and on to the Holy Spirit coming upon the Apostles at Pentecost can be presented and celebrated from early December until Pentecost Sunday.

Many denominations only focus on Christmas and Easter, or maybe the entirety of Holy Week from Palm Sunday to Easter, and then may or may not focus on Pentecost.

But for those that recognize Lent, the Lenten season in many denominations has an element of fasting.  Sadly, this is done as Jesus teaches us not to do.  They make a big deal out of it when we should do it in private, something just between us and God.  But that tradition stems from the forty days of fasting that Jesus did in the wilderness after His baptism and before His ministry started.  The Lenten season is kicked off on Ash Wednesday.  And after forty days, we reach Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week.  The concept of ashes is symbolized by at least one denomination having a cross painted on their forehead in ashes, sometimes from burning the palm fronds from the previous Palm Sunday the year before.  Again, that draws attention to the fact that they have started their fast.  But they are also announcing that they are Christians.  There is good and bad there.

So, when we are in the Lenten season, what should we focus on?  It depends.  We should focus on Jesus, but we might want to focus on our service to God.  What can we do better?  How can we spread the Gospel?  From Conception to Pentecost…  His mission was completed on earth, but He left us with something to do.

As for the Lewis book, it comes from a compilation of Lewis’ writings, edited by Zachry Kincaid.  In the book, there is a devotion, of sorts, from Ash Wednesday through Easter Sunday, the Lenten Season.  Each devotion contains suggested Scriptures and a writing of C.S. Lewis.

I am going to use my free time posts, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday afternoons (EDST) to correspond with that day’s devotion in the book.

Discussion

This quote from C.S. Lewis and the accompanying quote yesterday afternoon’s post, Rum Thing, are excerpts from his biography and testimony, Surprised by Joy.  C.S.  Lewis was an atheist, misgivings starting in boarding school and cemented on the front line in World War I.  He made a friendship with J.R.R. Tolkien and Hugo Dyson.  Some nights they might argue all night long.  Sometimes, Lewis and Tolkien would take long walks, arguing the entire time.  Tolkien was Catholic.

In one of these all-night sessions, either Tolkien or Dyson asked Lewis, “Why are you so passionately angry at a God that you claim you do not believe in?”  He later admitted that was one of the first chinks in his armor.  But in studying his writings, he wrote a letter to Arthur Greeves, an old school friend, in 1923 that hinted that he had some kind of spiritual leanings.  But yesterday’s quote states 1926 when he tried to enlist an atheist friend to help him defend their side, only to get “Rum Thing” as an answer.  Then, he mentions that he becomes a deist, a believer in some kind of God, in 1929.  But it was not until 1931 when he accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior. And you start seeing the dramatic changes in Lewis’ behavior and his writing.

I was almost tempted to write this post on the tenacity of Tolkien and Dyson.  Yes, they worked at the same college, but they never gave up on this angry man.  They were friends.  And unlike friends of today, they could have drastically opposing views and still be friends.  I am sure their arguments got heated, but that did not stop them being friends.  Today we silence, ghost or cancel anyone who disagrees with us – or many people do.  As a result, we do not get as many late bloomers to Christianity.  There are some, such as Larry Sanger, co-founder of Wikipedia and creator of Citizendium.

My point is that if you can withstand the insults and anger, there is much more evidence for Christianity being right than the atheist can imagine.  Do not give up.  If you cannot handle it, pray.

But here we find C.S. Lewis not becoming a Christian.  He only decided that his defenses had been breached and he now, as of the date in 1929, believed that God was God.  And he was so disillusioned and defeated by it.  Christianity to come later, as C.S. Lewis wrote … in a side car of a motorcycle ridden by his brother, Warnie.  I have always wanted to know how fast Warnie was going at the time, but that is my sense of humor working overtime.

Maybe that is why so many vocal atheists of today do not convert.  They may know they are defeated in their arguments, but it is hard to accept defeat.  I remember an old episode of Happy Days where the Fonz is found as he paces back and forth in the garage trying, unsuccessfully, to say that he was wr-r-r-r.  He could never complete the word “wrong” at the end of that sentence.  While we laugh at the Fonz, are we much better?

I have said in many posts that I said the salvation prayer possibly more than 500 times, probably a lot more, but I was not counting.  But it was every night before I went to bed, during every sermon I heard, for about fifteen months before I said that I was not saying that prayer tonight, but I surrendered to God and He could do anything He wanted with me.  Why surrender?  Why literally say “I give up!”?

I didn’t want to be wrong.  I wanted some dignity.  But pride had to be totally defeated.

Read the Bible from cover to cover and focus on the word “pride” or other words that point that way.  God does not like pride, to say it mildly.

God created everything.  If we did anything of note, we simply rearranged what God had done.  Like the old sculptor said, “When he sculpts a horse, he looks at what he has to start with and removes everything that is not horse.”  What did he have to start with?  What God had created.

And to think, we are approaching Holy Week, and God set the stars in motion at the dawn of time to foretell Christ coming to earth and dying on the cross for our sins.  When you see the entire picture, there is no escape, as Lewis questioned in yesterday’s post.  We must surrender, reluctantly or joyously.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.