I am an avid fan of C.S. Lewis but even I guessed one wrong 😑 (#3). I credit Lewis for bringing me “back to God” when I was searching in my 20s. His logic, for me, is undeniable. I love the passage in Mere Christianity where he talks about how we love a dog - and I’m 100% paraphrasing. We bathe the dog, we groom it, we feed it carefully chosen food, we give it a soft bed to lay on. Did the dog want this? Did the dog ask for this? No. The bathing and the grooming and the waiting to eat are actually not pleasant for the dog. The dog would never choose this on its own. But that’s what love does - changes us in ways that we never would have chosen, cleans us up so that we can receive more love. Makes us more lovable. Genius.
Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.
I am an avid fan of C.S. Lewis but even I guessed one wrong 😑 (#3). I credit Lewis for bringing me “back to God” when I was searching in my 20s. His logic, for me, is undeniable. I love the passage in Mere Christianity where he talks about how we love a dog - and I’m 100% paraphrasing. We bathe the dog, we groom it, we feed it carefully chosen food, we give it a soft bed to lay on. Did the dog want this? Did the dog ask for this? No. The bathing and the grooming and the waiting to eat are actually not pleasant for the dog. The dog would never choose this on its own. But that’s what love does - changes us in ways that we never would have chosen, cleans us up so that we can receive more love. Makes us more lovable. Genius.
I love that! and I love Lewis, too - which is why I get upset when he is misquoted. Because his actual quotes are so powerful and formative.
Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.
I love this passage!
Thank you. It's annoying to see soppy/sloppy thoughts attributed to him. A shorthand for people to try to lend credibility to something.