I’ve always been fascinated with envisioning heaven. One reason is that I’ve been so very disillusioned with this world in which we live. To me the world is a frustrating place in which to reside. It was with great pleasure that God revealed Himself to me and gave me something to look forward to and hold on to until my journey here comes to an end.
One of the people whom I’ve found to be most interesting is C.S. Lewis. (his entire name was Clive Staples Lewis). He was a novelist and his works have been translated into more than 30 languages and have sold millions of copies. He was also a poet, academic, an expert on the European middle ages, a literary critic, essayist, lay theologian, and a champion for Christians (apologist) from Belfast, Ireland.
Lewis was raised in a church-going family in the Church of Ireland. He became an atheist at 15, though he later described his young self as being paradoxically “very angry with God for not existing”. His early separation from Christianity began when he started to view his religion as a chore and as a duty. He wrote in favor of atheism and admired the writings of Lucretius particularly when he wrote:
“Had God designed the world, it would not be
A world so frail and faulty as we see.”
He slowly re-embraced Christianity, upon being influenced by nightly arguments with one of his Oxford friends. I laughed out loud when I read of him that “He fought greatly right up to the moment of his conversion, noting that he was brought into Christianity like a prodigal, ‘kicking, struggling, resentful, and darting his eyes in every direction for a chance to escape.’”
His conversion from a skeptic to a believer earned him the nickname: “The Apostle to the Skeptics.” (I laughed at that one because it reminded me so much of me.)
Some other views that he held that reminded me of my own were his early views on denominations. Lewis reflected that he’d initially attended church only to receive communion and had been repelled by the hymns and the poor quality of the sermons. He later came to consider himself honored by worshipping with men of faith who came in shabby clothes and work boots and who sang all the verses to all the hymns.
Lewis is regarded by many as one of the most influential Christian apologists, (defenders) of his time; Mere Christianity was voted best book of the twentieth century by Christianity Today in 2000. I highly recommend that you read it. Mere Christianity, The Problem of Pain, and Miracles were all concerned, to one degree or another, with refuting popular objections to Christianity, such as “How could a good God allow pain to exist in the world?”
Ahhh . . . I could go on and on about this great intellect, but I know I’m boring you silly by now. Sorry about that but I am always greatly encouraged whenever I see someone of tremendous intellect convert to Christianity and then spend the rest of their life living it as C.S. Lewis did.
One of my favorite passages of his deals with unbridled hope. I “hope” you enjoy it this morning. He has put into words what I firmly believe and yet could never have stated so eloquently.
“Most people, if they had really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise.
“At present we are on the outside . . . the wrong side of the door. We discern the freshness and purity of morning, but they do not make us fresh and pure. We cannot mingle with the pleasures we see. But all the pages of the New Testament are rustling with the rumor that it will not always be so. Someday, God willing, we shall get “in” . . . We will put on glory . . . that greater glory of which Nature is only the first sketch.
We do not want to merely “see” beauty – though, God knows, even that is bounty enough. We want something else which can hardly be put into words – to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it.
1 Cor. 2:9
But as it is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love Him. But God has revealed them to us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God . . .