“Why is God landing in this enemy-occupied world in disguise and starting a sort of secret society to undermine the devil?
Why is He not landing in force, invading it? Is it that He is not strong enough?Well, Christians think He is going to land in force; we do not know when. But we can guess why He is delaying. He wants to give us the chance of joining His side freely.
I do not suppose you and I would have thought much of a Frenchman who waited till the Allies were marching into Germany and then announced he was on our side.
God will invade.
But I wonder whether people who ask God to interfere openly and directly in our world quite realise what it will be like when He does.
When that happens, it is the end of the world. When the author walks on to the stage the play is over.
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| Lord, MAKE me Worthy to Receive You |
God is going to invade, all right: but what is the good of saying you are on His side then, when you see the whole natural universe melting away like a dream and something else–
something it never entered your head to conceive —comes crashing in; something so beautiful to some of us and so terrible to others that none of us will have any choice left?
For this time it will be God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature.
It will be too late then to choose your side.
There is no use saying you choose to lie down when it has become impossible to stand up. That will not be the time for choosing: it will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, whether we realised it before or not.
Now, today, this moment, is our chance to choose the right side.
God is holding back to give us that chance.
It will not last for ever. We must take it or leave it.”
C. S. Lewis: ‘Mere Christianity’. Ch 10
(Thanks to Billy Bob.)
Pax.
And that's the whole issue - choosing the right side ... Or the side of right.
ReplyDeleteThe choice would be easy were the pull and push from the World and the Flesh not seem more attractive. All too few will take the road to Heaven. The footsore perhaps, on that rocky road. And what a difficult road it is. Too many stumble.
DeleteFor those who know, the choice itself is easy.
DeleteIt is the pitfalls and crossroads along the way that lead to confusion and sometimes taking the wrong path (even in good faith). Some people are able redirect themselves back onto the right path but others need support to guide them back.
Those whose vision is too clouded to see the right path need the most support to help them find the path they have never seen. These of course would be the most difficult people to help put even one hesitant foot on that rocky path to light.
There are some, of course, who build those 'other' roads and dig the pits. They build their versions of 'taverns' supposedly to help folk find the path but which are in fact gambling joints with a cliff right behind the door to the toilet.
ReplyDelete