The Screwtape Letters: Chapter 2

Each week I will summarize a chapter from The Screwtape Letters
, a book by CS Lewis in which a senior demon named Screwtape is writing to his nephew, Wormwood, giving him advice on leading a man to damnation.

In our religious life, we will often have moments where we feel most on fire for our faith, most sure of it, and most excited to really live it out. It can happen in the initial turning of our hearts toward God, or in many of the silent turns toward God that we will make in our religious life. Often, this time of excitement is replaced by our normal everyday lives. Our resolve is gone, we are back into the same habits.

This is what Lewis talks about in chapter 2 of The Screwtape Letters. Lewis writes:

"In every department of life it marks the transition from dreaming aspiration to laborious doing." (13)

We must also keep our focus on God and His teachings, not on how well everyone around us is following them. Remember, all are sinners, we cannot let the sins of fellow Christians make us question the faith in anyway. This can be our tendency.

"Provided that any of those neighbors sing out of tune, or have boots that squeak, or double chins, or odd clothes, the patient will quite easily believe that their religion therefore be somehow ridiculous." (12)

I think this is a big reason why people who are not Christians have a problem with the faith, or think that the faith is not true - they see those people that profess to be Christians doing wrong, or living unholy lives. For our own part, we cannot let this fact detract us from our faith. Those Christians around us will continue to sin - that does not make the faith any less true.

Lastly, we must remember that our aim is to be perfect as Jesus is perfect. It is not to simply be a more ardent follower of Christ than our neighbor, which might not even be that hard depending on who we hang out with. Again, Lewis:

"What he says, even on his own knees, about his own sinfulness is all parrot talk. At bottom, he still believe he has run up a very favorable credit balance in the Enemy's ledger by allowing himself to be converted, and thinks that he's showing great humility and condescension in going to church with these "smug", commonplace neighbors at all." (14)

This is a trap that is easy to fall into, especially if you do not know many Christians. We may see those around us living a life of sin, and believe that by simply going to church once a week we are living a holy life. Not so fast. We must strive to do God's will every day at all time, no matter how those around us act, no matter how good we may think we are.

A lot of great lessons from chapter 2 of The Screwtape Letters.