After months of strong suggestions
from my friend, I read Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis. The book itself was
delightful to read overall, convicting at times, but mostly eye opening. The
perspective of a mind such as Lewis’ is refreshing and incredibly insightful.
Lewis talked about coming to know
God in one of the chapters and it reminded me a lot of the devotion that I led
last summer at Camp Highroad. The lesson revolved around the story of the
Prodigal Son. I highlighted the aspect of the story that discussed the second
son’s jealousy of the first son. The first son was being celebrated after he
went away and spent all of his father’s money and the second son was confused
as to why in the world the first son would be celebrated after he did such terrible
things. The key is in this passage from Mere Christianity:
“When you come to knowing God, the
initiative lies on His side. If He does not show Himself, nothing you can do
will enable you to find Him. And, in fact, He shows much more of Himself to some
people than to others—not because He has favourites, but because it is
impossible for Him to show Himself to a man whose whole mind and character are
in the wrong condition. Just as sunlight, though it has no favourites, cannot
be reflected in a dusty mirror as clearly as in a clean one.”
The first son did terrible things;
he desimated everything that his father spent his life working for and brought
shame to his family name. However, that did not matter. It’s sad that it took
the first son such a dramatic experience to realize how good he had it, but he
still realized how good he had it. It took him running himself down to rags to
be humble enough to accept what the father had to offer the entire time. The
first son’s heart was conditioned by his experience of running away to seem as a favorite to his father. In
reality, he just saw the blessings and his father’s presence more clearly. It
is the same way with God. A lot of Christians are like the second son-not
necessarily jealous, but constantly working and working, thinking that it is
pleasing to God.
Romans 5:8 -
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us.
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