| An Excerpt From Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis You may remember I said that the first step towards humility was to realise that one is proud. I want to add now that the next step is to make some serious attempt to practise the Christian virtues. A week is not enough. Things often go swimmingly for the first week. Try six weeks. By that time, having, as far as one can see, fallen back completely or even fallen lower than the point one began from, one will have discovered some truths about oneself. No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means—the only complete realist. |
Month: June 2020
The Knowledge of Christ
The words of Paul in Philippians 3 says
Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him.
I find myself asking what is this knowledge that Paul is talking about? This knowledge that can cause us to be found in His Presence and also in His Righteousness (v9).
What if Knowledge is an important key? Without knowledge, we would be believing in all sorts of made up imaginations. Let’s call this False Knowledge. With True Knowledge we would really know for sure.
Now WHY do we need to know for sure? I think it’s because knowledge brings forth faith. No matter if it’s false knowledge or true knowledge, it will bring forth faith. We practice faith everyday. Even in the simple things. We have faith that the chair we sit in will support our weight. We believe that the amount of salt we add into our soup adds the right amount of saltiness we want. But we also make mistakes of having faith on a pen that is out of ink, so we only brought one pen to class. Or leaving the powerbank at home because we remember (falsely) that we charged our phone at home.
Why do we need true knowledge? Because it affects our faith which affects our actions. The value of knowing Christ Jesus that surpasses every other knowledge. I have yet to achieve this level of value and regard to the knowledge of Christ Jesus. But I believe I will. Let’s press on into God’s will and words. Keep studying His word, keep looking to Him for perspective and leadership, and keep doing everything you can for His glory. And may He Grace you with revelation upon revelation.
There is hope. We can be fixed. 