Fitting In

C.S. Lewis Week: Part III

I may repeat 'Do as you would be done by' till I am black in the face, but I cannot really carry it out till I love my neighbor as myself: and I cannot learn to love my neighbor as myself till I learn to love God: and I cannot learn to love God except by learning to obey Him. And so, as I warned you, we are driven on to something more inward- driven on from social matters to religious matters. For the longest way round is the shortest way home.
-Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis

The rain has been falling gently now for a little while. As my mind floats around the dream I woke up from this morning, I reach for my Bible to continue reading through 1 Kings.

It is kind of crazy, by the way, how much God makes His presence known throughout the Old Testament.  The people don't really want to hear God because they still turn their backs and choose to follow other gods and their own sinful desires. Then brief moments of amazement occur, like when Elijah sets up a sacrifice and asks God to make it known to the crowd that He is God. God responds by engulfing the sacrifice in flames and all the people are amazed, suddenly believing. Well, of course it would be easier to believe when God is displayed right there in front of you. Right? The crowd mind-set of disbelief turned to belief means everyone is fitting in with each other.

Then after Jesus' resurrection, the Holy Spirit was given to us, and God does not intervene like He used to. Everything changes, as we change. Is it all in God's plans? Of course, He knows how we have changed, even though many of the same struggles and sins haunt us as they did thousands of years ago.

Today, we are to have faith in what we cannot see. Our world has a mindset of 'seeing is believing' so perhaps that is what many people struggle with, but it should also be the first clue that what we are meant for is something so much more than what we 'see' here. However, it goes against the way of the world. But isn't that what God calls us to anyway? Jesus went against the way of the world. He ate with sinners, he said blessed are the meek, he owned nothing, he loved everyone including the poor and sick, he would seek time of solitude by himself for prayer.

We may note in passing that He [Jesus] was never regarded as a mere moral teacher. He did not produce that effect on any of the people who actually met Him. He produced mainly three effects- Hatred- Terror- Adoration. There was no trace of people expressing mild approval.
-God in the Dock, C.S. Lewis

Never are we told to seek the way of the world.
Never are we encouraged to try to fit in.
In contrast, we are told not to be surprised when we are hated, or when we are faced with trials. Jesus was either hated, feared, or adored, as C.S. Lewis so aptly points out. So if we are to strive to become like Jesus, why should we be shocked to come across anything similar?