Practice Makes Perfect

Now I want to talk about practice – what do we do next? What difference does all this theology make?

Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis

The very first words of the Lord’s Prayer: Our Father. Right off the bat, we are putting ourselves in the place of a son of God. But, knowing what the words mean, we also know that we are not this – certainly not in our natural state. Yet, this is how Christ taught His disciples to pray. We are “ordered” to do the same.

Lewis sees this, in a fashion, as pretending to be something we are not. He says there is a bad form of this, where there is pretense instead of the real thing – like “call me if you need any help,” while somehow never being available.

But there is the good kind of pretending, where the pretense leads to the real thing. For example, you don’t feel like being particularly friendly, but you force yourself, and eventually being friendly just becomes habit. So, the moment you “dress up as Christ,” you might actually start seeing some ways in which the pretense can be made less of a pretense and more of a reality.

You will find several things going on in your mind which would not be going on there if you were really a son of God. Well, stop them.

How true this is, and has been, for me. Not to say that the path has been straight; not to say that there haven’t been significant challenges; not to say there haven’t been dark times and dark places. But I have grown more aware of where I fall short as I have taken seriously my Christian journey.

Returning to Lewis:

If you simply ask your conscience, you get one result; if you remember that you are dressing up as Christ, you get a different one.

Things that didn’t seem to be definitely wrong suddenly appear that way when looked at when you are seriously trying to be like Christ. This isn’t a matter of reducing sin (though that will be a result); it is a matter of recognizing that I am a sinner. It is a changed heart. Lewis describes it as trying to catch a good infection from the right Person.

The real Son of God is at your side. He is beginning to turn you into the same kind of thing as Himself.

It helps to have those who have already caught this infection at your side. This is why a community, a church, is necessary. Those who know Christ are the most effective at helping others find Him.

We must be thankful to all the people who have helped us, we must honour them and love them.

There are those for whom I owe this honor, for whom I am grateful, including many of you who comment at this blog.

But never, never pin your whole faith on any human being, not if he is the best and wisest in the world. There are lots of nice things you can do with sand, but do not try building a house on it.

This part is rather interesting to me. I have described some people who I view as worthwhile leaders or examples in this Christian journey of mine as people I trust. Some people recoil when I say this, as if my faith is in man (as Lewis cautions against here).

But I do not mean that I trust blindly. What I mean is that I have trust in their heart, in their goodwill toward me, that they are well-grounded in the faith.

Returning to Lewis and dressing up as Christ: call this being born again, putting on Christ, or Christ being formed in us. Different traditions have different terms, for this as well as for what it leads to: sanctification, theosis. Salvation, in the fullest sense of the word.

Put right out of your head the idea that these are only fancy ways of saying that Christians are to read what Christ said and try to carry it out…

No. It is not about doing, but about being. We kill the old, natural self and replace it with the kind of self Christ has. Or, shall I say, Christ replaces it (with our participation). Once you begin to “be,” it will come more naturally to “do.”

After the first few steps in the Christian life we realise that everything which needs to be done in our soul can be done only by God. … It is God who does everything.

And here is where we come to good actions; yes, the “do” is important, even necessary. But on what foundation are these good actions built? Are they built on our new nature, or on sand? On what are these good actions based, what is our purpose? Are we after public opinion, to show off, or because of our love for Christ and to follow His commandments?

Conclusion

I daresay this idea of a divine make-believe sounds rather strange at first. But is it so strange really? Is not that how the higher thing always raises the lower?

A mother teaches her baby to talk by talking to it as if it understood long before it really does.