The Christian way is different: harder, and easier. Christ says ‘Give me All. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work. I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good.’
Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis
I think it is right here that those who believe themselves to be Christians and those who are Christians part ways; we part on the fork in the road that forces us to choose to kill or not kill our natural self.
I know this in me, because I was one who believed I was a Christian for many years of my life while I lived fully in my natural self. I have lived in both worlds. I hope that by the time I work through this post, my meaning about this parting of the ways will have been made clear.
It isn’t just a part of Christianity to become a real son of God; it is the whole of it. It isn’t a question of living morally or being good – those will be results, but they are not the root. We hope that when we meet all of the demands of Christ (live morally; do good), there will be room left for our natural man. But it doesn’t work this way.
As long as we are thinking that way, one of two results is likely to follow. Either we give up trying to be good, or else we become very unhappy indeed.
How about both, as this has been my experience. It only is evidence that the natural man in me still fights to be in control. If we take as our burden the demands of Christ onto our natural man, there is not enough room for us to carry the load. We will get angrier and angrier, we will give up trying to be “good,” we may live for others but be discontented while doing so, grumbling all the way.
Take up your cross, suggesting that the Christian journey will end in a concentration camp, beaten to death; My yoke is easy and burden is light…needing no clarification. The Christian life is both harder and easier than anything we can imagine. If we don’t experience both, truly experience both, then we are not living the Christian life.
The Christian way requires handing it all over to Christ. This makes it harder than anything else we have ever done. Yet, we have the instruction manual – we are told exactly what to do. So, as we hand everything over to Christ, the Christian life gets easier and easier. Christ gives us a new self; in fact, He gives us His Self.
The terrible thing, the almost impossible thing, is to hand over your whole self – all your wishes and precautions – to Christ.
A thistle cannot produce figs. We cannot hope that hanging on to any part of our natural self – our money, our pleasure, our health – will allow us to live honestly, chastely, humbly. Jesus didn’t talk like this:
He never talked vague, idealistic gas. When He said ‘Be perfect,’ He meant it. He meant we must go for the full treatment.
This is the whole of Christianity. There is nothing else. … It is the only thing we were made for.
Be perfect. This is why Jesus warned us to count the cost. We don’t get to go part way, and to go all the way will come at a great cost – the cost of eliminating the natural man completely.
I think He meant ‘The only help I will give is help to become perfect. You may want something less, but I will give you nothing less.’
Once you call on Christ, be prepared for the full treatment, else you will get nothing at all. Well, nothing but frustration and anger. But, if we lean on Him, each time we fail, He will pick us up.
…the goal toward which He is beginning to guide you is absolute perfection; and no power in the whole universe, except you yourself, can prevent Him from taking you to that goal.
I know there are some who don’t accept that last part; you can’t “prevent” God from doing anything. Yes, that’s true. At the same time, I have no idea how to live this Christian life without participating in it. And I know that there are times when I choose not to participate. I won’t try to explain this apparent contradiction, nor try to make it fit some doctrinal claim. I just know it is so.
…the question is not what we intended ourselves to be, but what He has intended us to be when He made us.
Don’t be surprised that you find yourself in a rough time on this journey. When we are getting on pretty well, we feel great. When we hit a bump in the road, we are disappointed…or worse. Why?
Because God is forcing him on, or up, to a higher level: putting him in situations where he will have to be very much braver, or more patient, or more loving, than he had ever dreamed of being before.
I recall hearing something like: as soon as you pray to God to help you deal with some personal shortcoming or sin, He will give you an opportunity to grow in that shortcoming or sin. Kind of stinks, but how else could it work? We all have crosses to bear. How will we learn how to properly bear them unless we get some practice?
Conclusion
The command Be ye perfect is not idealistic gas.
It isn’t impossible. He will make us creatures who can obey that command.
The process will be long and in parts very painful, but that is what we are in for. Nothing less. He meant what He said.
So much for Lewis. The rest is me.
The hill seems too high, too massive to climb. Be ye perfect?! I will take door B:
Matthew 7: 13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
What does it mean to be a Christian? There are some fundamental things which we must believe, of this there is no doubt. But even the devil believes these things. So, what is the difference?
It is the choice of gate. The Christian chooses the narrow gate. I believe the way to enter that gate is to repent. To repent does not mean we are instantaneously perfect – the way, once we enter, is difficult. It is a journey.
It is here, right here, at the choice of the gate and the decision to repent, that those who believe themselves to be Christians and those who are Christians part ways. To take the narrow gate is to kill our natural self; it is to repent.
If a “Christian” finds his way easy, knowingly or not, he has taken the wide gate and a broad way; there has been no repentance. Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord… and all that. To repent, to decide to kill our natural self, brings pain, brings difficulty, as Jesus said.
But when we enter the narrow gate…well, this opens the way for Christ to work in us, just as Lewis has described. And if Christ isn’t working in us, there is no salvation.
A classic! Thank you....and it's going into DaLimbraw Library.
"I know there are some who don’t accept that last part; you can’t “prevent” God from doing anything. Yes, that’s true. At the same time, I have no idea how to live this Christian life without participating in it. And I know that there are times when I choose not to participate. I won’t try to explain this apparent contradiction, nor try to make it fit some doctrinal claim. I just know it is so."
The way to look at it is not that we prevent God from doing anything, but that we are simply rejecting his offer. He could easily force salvation upon us. He could make us be perfect through an intervention of His divine will upon ours without our consent. But what sort of meaning would salvation have then?
Those days, months, or even years in which we neglect to tend the garden of our faith, become that growing rejection of His offer. As a Catholic, I don't look at faith as a one time choice. It is a choice we must make every second of the day. We can always let our garden become overrun by weeds and pests. That is always an option that we must watch out for. Memento mori. Remember that we will die and face judgement, and this undeniable fact should serve as motivation to tend the garden, so that it looks nice when the Master returns. As you say, we have to participate in this Christian life.
Weeds and pests will always try to creep in, and sometimes overwhelmingly so, but we must continue to purge them, and have faith in the tools that God, the Master Gardener, has freely given us.