If God Is Satisfied With The Work...

If God is satisfied with the work, the work may be satisfied with itself., C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

Did you know that God is completely satisfied with you right now?  


Stop and let that soak in. There is nothing you can do right now that will make God love you any more.  It does not matter what your position in life is, what you are doing (or not doing).  This is what is meant by God's grace.  None of us deserve it.  He just freely give us His love.  It is hard to accept, frankly.  The "deep-down-in-the-soul" realization of that is life changing.  


You may say, "But there are things that I still do that are wrong."  Yes, that likely is the case.  Yet, even if we fix those things, while we are likely saving ourselves from heartache and pain, but we are not making Him love us more.  It does not matter what you have done in the past. It does not matter what happened to you.  This is a truth that we are generally taught from a very young age. Yet, how many of us truly, "deep-down-in-the-soul" believe it? If we truly believed it, the implications would be enormous.  


If you are like me, you work too hard to change yourself.  We are dissatisfied with who we are.  Yet, this is akin to the clay complaining to the potter.  God is completely satisfied with you, His creation.  We need to always be open to change and correction, yet change occurs from the working of the Holy Spirit on our lives, not from some sort of internal struggle or effort.  The harder we try to change, the more unlikely we are to change.  Again, our only role is to be open, to offer our hearts.  What will really change your life is the deep realization that God is completely satisfied you right now, in this moment, wherever you are, whatever you are struggling with, or whatever you have done.


Do  you believe that God is completely satisfied with you right now? 

The Paradox Of Christian Effort: Stop Trying

"Many things—such as loving, going to sleep, or behaving unaffectedly—are done worst when we try hardest to do them." C.S. Lewis, Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Literature    

Last night I had trouble falling asleep.  I stared at the ceiling for what seemed like an eternity.  Then it happened...I began to worry about falling asleep.  And the vicious cycle began...  Ever notice it is the same with trying to love someone?  A friend does something to annoy you, yet you note that you are annoyed and chastise yourself for not being loving. What happens the next time your friend does something that is even remotely annoying? It is like it is magnified ten times!  Living "righteously" or becoming a "good Christian" is exactly the same.  When we try to "grow" in Christ, we begin to rely on our own abilities and strength, thereby directly nullifying any "righteousness."

As Christians, we try too hard. In fact, we fail as Christians whenever we attempt to do something under our own power and strength.  It is the human condition, yet it is odd. We have available to us the power and strength from the Creator of all, yet we try and do things under our own strength. I am no different. I struggle with this daily.  There is a paradox here, however, because just when you think you have successfully mastered the art of relying on God, you have fallen back into the trap.  This is why Jesus said that we need to die to self daily.  We must be constantly vigilant, but in being vigilant, we fall back into the trap of self-reliance again.

The Christian way is simply (I say simply because though the idea is easy, it is very difficult indeed) to continually get out of the way so that we can be a conduit of God's power and love and glory.  The same applies for growth as a Christian. The harder we try to grow, the less we are growing. We need to allow growth to happen to us.

As John the Baptist said, "I must decrease so that He can increase."  That is the Christian way.

Are There Questions Which God Finds Unanswerable?

"Can a mortal ask questions which God finds unanswerable? Quite easily, I should think. All nonsense questions are unanswerable." C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed.


There are questions that are unanswerable. For example, my friend Mitch used to tell his wife all the time to not ask questions for which there are no answers.  Women expect men to answer whether or not something looks good on them.  Yet, really men are damned either way.  Either they are not telling the truth or they are patronizing.


To use a little bit more serious example, can you remember a child asking you an unanswerable question? You know the answer, but it is impossible to explain because they do not have the proper framework.  They simply will not understand even when you explain it.


There are questions that we can ask God that are unanswerable. It is not that we stump Him, it is that we do not have the framework or sufficient knowledge to understand the answer.  In Isaiah, it says,

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9.

While our thoughts may be significantly higher than a child's, the difference between God's thoughts and our thoughts is infinintly greater.  As Christians, we have to be willing to live with the realization that God will not explain everything to us. And we should appreciate that fact because a God who was completely understandable would not be worthy of worship.


Not that God does not want us to ask questions; faith is not irrational.  God can handle all of our questions; we just cannot handle all the answers.  It can be uncomfortable, but it is a matter of faith to be willing to continue the journey without necessarily understanding.    

God As Our Father

"We want not so much a Father but a grandfather in heaven, a God who said of anything we happened to like doing, 'What does it matter so long as they are contented?" C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain.

As C.S. Lewis points out, we too often wish that God were a benevolent Grandfather rather than a watchful Father. We wish God would spoil us like grandfathers do, not discipline us like Fathers. Yet, if we think about it, rather than feel it with our heart, we will realize how much better fathers are than grandfathers.  Fathers are with us day in and day out, helping us with our homework, dressing our wounds, and, even, keeping us in line.  In contrast, we see grandfathers once in a awhile, and they bring gifts or a warm hug, but they are not responsible for the tough jobs associated with raising a child.

We do not always like it.  We have tendency to rebel against the firm hand of a Father.  We resent being sent to our room or the belt on the backside.  But oh, how we need it!  And oh how we need God's guidance and discipline in our lives, in addition to the benevolent gifts He does give us. 

The route to true contentment rather than fleeting happiness is through suffering and discipline.  The person who has endured the hard times has a greater capacity to enjoy the good times, as well as a greater ability to be happy in every circumstance.  If God never allowed tough things in our lives, ultimately we would never experience true contentment.  

On this Father's Day, let's celebrate our fathers, but let's also celebrate God as our Father who never leaves or forsakes us, and who loves us enough to do the tough work of disciplining us.