If Our God is for Me then who can be against me

Lent 2012   A Clean Heart, Create in Me      C.S.Lewis

Wednesday  March 7                                   Matthew 25:45-46

Disconnect.  Disconnect.  What does the scripture have to do with the devotional?  I agree with the statement, “SERVILE FEAR IS the lowest form of religion.” Blind slavery to an unfeeling unmerciful tyrant of a God is the cruelest form of devotion.   But what is C.S. trying to say?  I think that the scripture is talking about us serving the least and the last and the lost.   I think that the eternal punishment is us realizing all the opportunities we had to work with God for the transformation of the world and all the times we chose something else.  A cosmic size: DOH!  Those that are living in right relationship with God are already living in that eternal life.   C.S. Lewis chooses to focus on the issues of heaven and hell.    

I have read Rob Bell’s Love Wins.  In it he discusses his understanding of Heaven and Hell.  This spawned all sorts of discussion and disagreements and response books.  I believe that we create our own hell that starts right now and we can choose to stay there forever.  I also believe that the Kingdom of Heaven is now and we can participate in it fully now.   I love that Lewis says, “The soul that has once wakened, or stung, or uplifted by the desire of God, will inevitably (I think) awake to the fear of losing Him.”  But this seems like an incomplete faith.  Even if I think that I can do something that will so estrange me from the presence of God that I am lost, God does not abandon me.  Part of the freedom of salvation is the assurance of God’s presence no matter what.  Hell is when we choose to deny that presence.  Heaven is when we seek to live in that presence. 

The fear that Lewis talks about is a belief that we can lose God.  I would rather focus on fear being a deep knowing of God that inspires us.  Knowing that God is essential to abundance, growth, happiness and hope is what helps us devote ourselves daily to our spiritual journey.  God is not about loss but healing.   Dear God, may my fears diminish and never stand in my way of pursuing Your Will.  May my confidence in your steadfast love, inspire me to take risks for the kingdom.