C.S. Lewis, Lent & Love
Lent is the season of repentance and self-denial. But to what end? Is it to nurture greater self-discipline or virtue? Is it to identify with Jesus? Is it to train us in the way of discipleship? What do you think?
Along these lines, I found the following quotation by C.S. Lewis helpful:
If you asked twenty good [persons] today what they thought the highest of the virtues, nineteen of them would reply, Unselfishness. But if you had asked almost any of the great Christians of old [they] would have replied, Love. You see what has happened? A negative term has been substituted for a positive, and this is of more than philological importance. The negative ideal of Unselfishness carries with it the suggestion not primarily of securing good things for others, but of going without them ourselves, as if our abstinence and not their happiness was the important point. I do not think this is the Christian virtue of Love. The New Testament has a lot to say about self-denial, but not about self-denial as an end in itself.
C.S. Lewis – The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses, 2001 Harper Collins San Francisco p. 25
Self denial, to empty one self for the sake of our neighbor?
self denial,is of no use if we are not brought closer to christ
I have enjoyed CS Lewis since my childhood (granted only 2 decades ago) and have found his work always provocative and challenging. I’m reminded of Luther’s additional description of “The Seventh”- We are to fear and love God, so that we neither take our neighbors’ money or property nor acquire them by using shoddy merchandise or crooked deals, but instead help them to improve and protect their property and income. A simple change from a ‘I should not do…” to “How can I help my neighbor”. I think self-denial is the inward gaze of a sinful heart while living with passion for the neighbor is the outward gaze of the God who changes that same heart. Thanks as always for the thoughts 🙂