The Weight of Glory

C.S. Lewis touches on several different topics as he explains the Glory of God.  First he explains that God does not intend for us to live a live of self-denial.  God wants to give us many good things, however, he will not necessarily give us the things we think he should give us or at the times we think he should give them to us.  He goes on to explain this idea through the idea of a mercenary marrying for money compared to a lover marrying because he is in love and that is a fitting reward.  When we get angry with God for not giving us the thinks we think we deserve we become like the mercenary.  This reminds me of the story of the prodigal son.  When we think about this story we often forget that the other son was also not doing what his father wanted.  Although he worked hard for his father the entire time his brother was off wasting money he was also in the wrong because he was not working hard for his father for the right reasons.  He got angry when his brother was given a party and he was not, though neither of them deserved it.  As someone who has grown up in a strong Christian home, I feel like I relate with the sins of the older brother far too often.  God will reward us in ways sometimes too great for us to imagine. 

                  Heaven is one of those rewards that as finite creatures, we can’t seem to understand.  It is this longing for heaven that cannot be filled by earthly things yet God slowly gives us contentment as we put out faith in him.  By this I don’t mean to say God doesn’t give us joy through earthly things.  C.S. Lewis says, “the books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it was only through them, and what came through them was longing.”  It is not the earthly things that we love but their ability to give us a taste of what we really long for. 

                C.S. Lewis continues by saying, “If our religion is something objective, then we must never avert our eyes from those elements in it which seem puzzling or repellent; for it will be precisely the puzzling or the repellent which conceals what we do not yet know and need to know”.  This quote really challenged me.  I tend to put things such as predestination, on the back burner.  I like to think “whether I believe in predestination or not, I am saved because Jesus died for my sins and I believe he is my savior”. However, although I don’t think the answer to the subjects in our faith will determine our salvation, I do think they are a great way for us to grow in our faith and our relationship with God.  Lewis gives his own example of this in his struggle of the meaning of glory.  He explains glory not as the wanting of other peoples praise and attention but of God’s praise and attention. This new way of looking at glory helps Lewis to understand what it means to have a childlike faith of humility and servitude.  C.S. Lewis goes on to later explain, “If I had rejected the authoritative and scriptural image of glory and stuck obstinately to the vague desire which was, at the outset, my only pointer to heaven, I could have seen no connexion at all between that desire and the Christian promise”.  Would C.S. Lewis have gone to hell if he didn’t even understand glory in the correct way?  No.  However, through the process of searching for an answer C.S. Lewis learns more about God and his promises to us.  I remember one time at young life camp someone was talking to us about God’s grace.  He told us this story of how he took some of his campers up of a high hill at 5 in the morning in order to watch the sunset to them.  He told them, “the sun will rise every morning, but when we get up, get out here, and look for it, we see it for all its beauty.”  God’s grace is always present and so is the knowledge of his creation.  However, we need to put a conscious effort into it, to better see God.  We can do this as Lewis describes by learning from others and his word.  However I think we can also learn a lot my serving others and getting out and doing our best for the Lord even when we don’t feel like it. 

                Lewis ends his this sermon by challenging us to apply these subjects to our own lives.  God’s glory is laid upon us.  He has blessed us with so many unimaginable gifts though we don’t deserve any of them.  We must also change our view of our neighbors.  With the gift of eternal life Lewis says, “There are no ordinary people.  You have never talked to a mere mortal.” He goes on to describe them as, “immortal horrors or everlasting splendours”.  This should change the way we thing about people in that we must treat them as wonderful creations of God.  We must treat them with respect and dignity rather than exploit them for our own gain.  It is most important not that we are unselfish but that we love them.