Integrative Essay-A Humble Servant

         C. S. Lewis once said, “Humility, no less than the appetite, encourages us to concentrate simply on the knowledge or the beauty, not too much concerning ourselves with their ultimate relevance to the vision of God” (Lewis, Learning in War-Time). C. S. Lewis not only writes about humility, but he also writes with humility throughout all of his writings. He gives examples throughout his essays and books of how humility can be seen in all areas of life whether that be through school or job, arguing, marriage, and even dealing with one’s talents and gifts. As humans, the easiest thing is to be self-focused. Humility is something that one can only truly be given from God and it is necessary if one desires to grow stronger as a Christian. Though C. S. Lewis has great insights and his writing is very enlightening, even he will admit that all his wisdom comes from God. That is why it is important to look at scripture. Colossians 3:12 says, “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” The Apostle Paul commands many things of Christians, one being to put on humility. Paul wants everyone to clothe themselves with humility, to wear it wherever one walks. If C. S. Lewis and Paul both believed that being humble was important, then there is a lot that one can still learn about it. 

 
In C. S. Lewis’ “Our English Syllabus,” He paints together a beautiful picture of what humility as a student should look like. As a student, there are times where it is hard to know how to study and what attitude is important. He says “Play to win and you will find yourself taking violent exercise; play because it is good for you and you will not” (Lewis, Our English Syllabus). This can also be accounted for in regular studies. If one’s only goal is to get an “A” on the next test or a higher GPA then his friend down the hall, then he will be “taking violent exercise.” This connects to what the Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians. He knew his job was to go around the world and preach. He didn’t do it because he wanted to beat one of the disciples, but his attitude stayed humble and willing to learn in whatever circumstance. Yet, he humbly admits that his humility comes from Jesus Christ who “being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, [Jesus] made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross!” Jesus also had a job to do. Though at one time I am sure that it was to be a student, God sent Him to be the perfect sacrifice so that one day, no matter one’s job or physical stature, there will be a great party in Heaven for everyone. Jesus had every right to desire a crown, brag about acing all of His Old Testament Bible literature exams, or during a running race force angels to come down and give Him swifter feet. Jesus demanded and desired none of this. As Cornelius Plantinga Jr. said, “[Jesus] acted like a repentant sinner. He got himself baptized, like every sinner, He absorbed accusations. He accepted rebuke without protest....and then, at the end, He died slowly on an instrument that the Romans had invented to kill their enemies, and first to humiliate them” (Plantinga, 81). Jesus offered himself as a fragrant sacrifice to God, humbly and obediently. In “Learning in War-Time,” C. S. Lewis said that “The work of a Beethoven, and the work of a charwoman, become spiritual on precisely the same condition, that of being offered to God, of being done humbly ‘as to the Lord’ ” (Lewis, Learning in War-Time). As a Christian, Lewis reminds me to look towards the example of one who obediently and humbly worked as a servant.

 
          Though humility is needed in work, it also needs to be in daily conversations such as when an argument arises. C. S. Lewis talks on arguing in his essay called “Bulverism.” This essay is about the one-sided, selfishness of arguing. He wrote this a good many years ago and this concept is still relevant today. According to him, bulverism is the modern method in a discussion where person A assumes that person B is wrong so then A explains to B how he became so silly. Though it is a word that Lewis made up, it was made with good intentions.  Examples of bulverism today can look like many political disagreements, a shopper getting frustrated at the clerk, arguments between sport players, or even sometimes with siblings. When someone says that another is wrong, yet gives no reason as to why, it hurts. It is necessary that if one is a hockey player, they do not shove someone to the floor because he is simply on the other team or when two sisters are playing dolls, that one does not retaliate because dolls are not fun anymore. When conversing with others, love and humility need to evident. Many times this may mean giving a sound reason for why one feels the way they do. “But you can only find out the rights and wrongs by reasoning - never by being rude about your opponent’s psychology” (Lewis, Bulverism). If C. S. Lewis found this to be true then, this can also be true today. The Holy Spirit is key in showing bulverism in everyday conversations with others. Lewis said in “Meditation in a Toolshed” that “One must look both along and at everything. In particular cases we shall find reason for regarding the one or the other vision as inferior” (Lewis, Meditation in a Toolshed). Sometimes when disagreeing with a friend, it is easy to sometimes just look “at” a person and see only what they are arguing about without looking “along” the other person and trying to find where they are coming from. Psalm 19:14 says, “May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.” One’s words and thoughts should be committed to the Lord so that they can be pleasing, whether that be on a sports team, with a sibling, or in an everyday situation.  

 
         On earth, Jesus Christ spent time teaching about love as did His followers and the Apostle Paul. This love was not the mushy, passionate love that is shown on television today, but much deeper. It is shown by two lovers. Paul wrote on love with humility. First Corinthians 13:4-7 says, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” Many times through pride, love can become confused. Yet, love can be beautiful if one loves with humility. In The Four Loves, C. S. Lewis describes the love as being between two lovers as what the Greek call Eros. “That Eros is ‘noblest’ or ‘purest’ when Venus is reduced to the maximum” (Lewis, The Four Loves). The Greek god, Venus, was a portrayal of the sex between two lovers. Sex does not equal Eros. Eros is the love that first Corinthians talks about. Though sex can be an affect of Eros, Eros is pure and noble. Sometimes it is when love is confused with pleasure or sex that pain and hurt become relevant. “Pleasure, pushed to the extreme, shatters us like pain” (Lewis, The Four Loves). When anything, especially the very passionate part of love, is “pushed to the extreme,” nothing is done in humility. It becomes self-seeking, proud, dishonoring. C. S. Lewis and I both do not truly know what it means to know Eros - the passion, desire, and faithful commitment. Yet, we have had examples of parents and grandparents to show what true Eros looks like with Venus reduced to the maximum.  

 
Whether one is in love or not, God gives each person gifts and talents. C. S. Lewis refers to talents and gifts in “Learning in War-Time” as something that one is hungry for or has an appetite for. “An appetite for these things exists in the human mind, and God makes no appetite in vain. We can therefore pursue knowledge as such, and beauty, as such, in the sure confidence that by so doing we are either advancing to the vision of God ourselves or indirectly helping others to do so” (Lewis, Learning in War-Time). God does not mess around with His creation. He gives gifts so that His children can help advance others “to the Vision of God or indirectly helping others to do so.” How much more special is that gift if it is offered to the Maker and Creator of the world who desires nothing more than to give help to His children in every way possible. He cannot help bring this gift to its full potential unless His children acknowledge their dependence upon Him. He gives everyone an appetite not in vain but desires that everyone will us their God given gift for Him. What is also humbling is that one’s gifts could possibly not be used directly where one can see the affect of how God is working, but rather one’s gifts could be making a difference miles away from their home. The Apostle Paul says in Colossians 3:17 that whatever one does, “whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Paul lived his life as a faithful follower of Jesus Christ. He faced hardship, suffering, multiple times of being shipwrecked, yet even through it all, he humbly and reverently served the Lord with his gift of preaching. No matter what gift or talent God blesses each person with, they should be done to the Lord in humility knowing that one can either advance him and others more towards “the vision of God” or in the opposite direction. There is no middle ground.

 
         Humility is crucial if one desires God to change the world. Humility in the heart starts first because it is God, and only God, who can bring a change to a heart while doing school work, arguing, marriage, and with one’s God-given talents. As Christians, humility can start with the offering of one’s day up to the Lord through the knowledge that without Him, there is not reason to live. King David puts it well when he says “Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God” (Psalm 30:8 & 9).

Works Cited

Holy Bible: New International Version. Biblica, 1984. Mon. 24 Jan. 2011. www.biblegateway.com

Lewis, C. S. “Bulverism.” From God in the Dock. Print

Lewis, C. S. Four Loves. New York: n.p., 1960. 

Lewis, C.S. “Learning in War-Time.” Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Oxford. 1939. Lecture.

Lewis, C. S. "Meditation in a Toolshed." God in the Dock. N.p.: Eerdmans, 1970.   

Lewis, C. S. "Our English Syllabus." English Society, Oxford. Lecture.

Plantinga, Cornelius Jr. Engaging God's Word. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdman's Publishing Co. , 2002. Print

The Problem of Pain

There is no way to ignore the fact that there is pain and suffering in the world that we live in. Through “The Problem of Pain,” C. S. Lewis acknowledges the many questions the world has about an all-powerful, all-loving God and the problem of pain. Though Lewis is not perfect by any means, he does bring a lot of challenging ideas to the table and many can be backed up with Scripture.   

One point that C. S. Lewis makes as to why pain is in our world is because as creatures of a higher being, we need to surrender ourselves to the Creator. Yet, with this world, it is hard to be able to be reminded of this self-surrender. Lewis argues that one way we are reminded to be in constant surrender is through suffering. When everything is going well and I feel like I can ace a test or give the best party I can for my friends birthday, I have less of a desire to surrender my self-will to God. But when I realize that I am going through pain, I know that it is something that can not be ignored. C. S. Lewis says it well when he talks about how “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” When I read this quote, I wondered where it is that God has had to use pain in some way to speak to me. I thought of a time when I fell off my bike and my dad was there to show me a father’s love, messing with a dog while she was hungry and was bit, watching my grandpa suffer through pain which caused me to learn patience like never before, go through many days of pure homesickness last semester, and walking into a home in Africa with simply a dirt floor and straw roof where a mom cooked food for children with bloated stomachs. Though none of these times seemed fun to go through, I saw God’s hand at work. When I think about it, I truly did know that God was shouting at me. 

One of Lewis’ metaphors reminded me of Proverbs 26:11 when he says how we need tribulation in our life. If we do not have it, then how do we know that we are growing. When things get easy or I am “freed” from a hardship in my life, I am so prone to go back to what I was doing. It is like how C. S. Lewis says it, I am like a “puppy when the hated bath is over - I shake myself as dry as I can and race off to reacquire my comfortable dirtiness, if not in the nearest manure heap, at least in the nearest flower bed.” How often am I willing to go back to the same way that God found me? I all to often forget the redeeming part that God is doing in me and head back to my flower bed where He will have to teach me the same thing again. 

Vocation-Plantinga-Chapter 5

"For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property.To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them.And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, 'Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.' His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master'...He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, 'Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.' But his master answered him, 'You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed?

Matthew 25:14-18,20,21,24-26 

In this parable, Plantinga says in chapter 5 of “Engaging God’s World” that to Jesus it did not really matter for Him which calling His disciples pursued but rather how faithfully they pursued them. To me, this is humbling. Two of the servants were given talents (or money) that they used in ways that made their boss proud. They used their money so wisely in fact that they gained more going beyond their call of duty making the man desire to give them more work to do because he trusted them so well. But one man buried what his boss had given him, desiring to lock it up and be selfish with it for his own gain. God does not call me to be this way with the gifts and talents that He has given me, especially when putting my gifts and talents towards a profession, or as Plantinga says, a “vocation in the Kingdom of God.” 

When it comes to vocation and being a Christian, many feel these have to be seperate: church on Sunday, go to work Monday through Friday, do chores on Saturday, repeat. Yet, in “The Parable of the Talents,” the man gave his servants gifts and when he found that one did not use it to help him but instead used it selfishly, it did not go well in the end. God wants me to use what I have learned I have dreams for and a strong passion for and expand them. He can not do this if they are hidden inside a hole and tied in a bag. He wants me to go out and seek ways that can bring Him glory, but of course, through His help. C. S. Lewis says in “Learning in War - Time” that “All our merely natural activities will be accepted, if they are offered to God, even the humblest and all of them, even the noblest, will be sinful if they are not.” How true this is. My eyes, car, family, friends, school, job are all mere gifts that God has loaned me. (I don’t think this way everyday about it but I am thankful for these little reminders.) If I am not faithful with those, then I am wasting what precious gifts He has given me for my own glory.  

“How wonderful it is when [human beings serve] in conscious acknowledgement of the calling of God and in faith that, between this life and the next, between the partial coming of the kingdom and the full coming of the kingdom, nothing good will ever be lost.” 

Man or Rabbit

“Can’t you lead a good life without believing in Christianity?” 

C. S. Lewis starts his essay called “Man or Rabbit” with this one question. It is very possible to do good in life if one is not a Christian. One can just look at all the good things that are going on in our society today. Many fight for the environment, not just Christians. Many build wells in Africa so that others can have clean water, not just Christians. Many tutor underprivileged students, not just Christians. Many do such good things that they believe this makes them have a good life. But Christians also do good things too and sooner or later one will be able to see that there is a difference. “To the materialist things like nations, classes, civilizations must be more important than individuals, because the individuals live only seventy odd years each and the group may last for centuries. But to the Christian, individuals are more important, for they live eternally.” Christians believe that there is a God who is love and who desires that His children be redeemed and show love to others because of Him. To Christians, good works are the fruit of their faith. How one can tell that an apple tree is what it is because of its fruit, so one can tell more about a person through their works. I, as a Christian, am reminded that I can not do good works on my own efforts though. C. S. Lewis says that “the people who keep on asking if they can’t lead a decent life without Christ, don’t know what life is about; if they did they would know that ‘a decent life‘ is mere machinery compared with the thing we men are really made for.” 

My favorite part in this whole essay is his comparison of morality and a mountain. I personally love mountains. My second home is pretty much Colorado so every year I go skiing or simply just hiking in the mountains. There is nothing more beautiful then standing on the mountain at night with an array of stars laid out to look at or standing on the top of the mountain and you see other mountains off in the distance that are just begging for you to climb or ski down them. C. S. Lewis makes a connection with mountains and morality at the very end of his essay. If we want to be more moral, it is not something that is possible through one’s own efforts and if this was really true, the summit of the mountain is where we would be stuck. There would be no moving onward because the cold air would make us freeze and what would be the point of skiing back down when nobody wants to regress but only make progress. When one believes in Christ and is progressing up the mountain with His help, He will not leave them stuck to die on the summit of the mountain. Christ gives us wings at the summit and “it is from there that the real ascent begins. The ropes and axes are ‘done away’ and the rest is a matter of flying.”  

The Inner Ring

Upon reading “The Inner Ring” by C. S. Lewis, I was caught off guard by something close to the very beginning of the essay. He said that he is going to “do something more old-fashioned than you perhaps expected. [He] is going to give advice.” This sent my mind for a twist. Many times people don’t say that they are going to give advice, but rather just give it. My attention became set on what advice he could give me as a college student. And so, with that, I sat back, highlighter in hand, and I became ready to listen to the words of a wise man. 

What is an inner ring? It is what we call a clique. It becomes hurtful when we believe that it will bring us fulfillment in some area of our life. Lewis states, “I believe that in all men’s’ lives at certain periods, and in many men’s lives at all periods between infancy and extreme old age, one of the most dominant elements is the desire to be inside the local Ring and the terror of being left outside.” I can’t help but feel that our society sugar coats what he says here with simply the word “acceptance.” But Lewis goes deeper and travels farther down the road where many of us are so unsure. He says that there are many inner rings inside of each other. How true this is. To say that I have not been caught up in one of these rings would be to flippantly lie to you which I will not do. 

One thing about these inner rings is that at the time, they seem almost to die for. Nothing seems to consume your mind more. Many instances come to mind for me of times when nothing seemed more important. When I was in 7th grade, I was suddenly caught in the idea that EVERYONE, at least all the girls, seemed to wear make-up. So what did I do next? You guessed it. I went home and told my mom that I needed to wear make-up. Though my mom gave me another one of those special talks about inward beauty, she didn’t hinder me from trying it out. Another instance was when all I could think about was getting my driver’s license. My friends seemed to be getting theirs and driving places all by themselves. And then there was that time when I felt that I had to practice tennis for at least 3 hours in a day so that I could gain into the “inner ring” of the really good kids who would always go to state each year. Make-up, a driver’s license, or practicing tennis are not bad things. Like C. S. Lewis says “I am not going to say that the existence of Inner Rings is an Evil. It is certainly unavoidable...But the desire which draws us into Inner Rings is another matter. A thing may be morally neutral and yet the desire for that thing may be dangerous.” It was my desire that I let consume me in some way that became an idol in my mind. Like Plantinga says in chapter 3, an idol is “the act of putting [something] alongside God and trying to serve them both.” Though “inner rings” are unavoidable, the strong consuming desire can be avoided.     

The Four Loves-Eros

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 

I Corinthians 13:13

In “The Four Loves,” C. S. Lewis writes about the meaning of love from a  Christian perspective. In the Greek language, there are four words for love - storge, phileo, agape, and eros. Though all of these are important, today in class we focused on eros - the romantic love or what people call “falling in love.” 

Many people might associate Eros with the sexual desires that we as humans have but C. S. Lewis defines Eros as something deeper. “Sexual desire, without Eros, wants it, the thing in itself; Eros wants the Beloved.” The thing that he is talking about is the sensory pleasure in love. But this is not something that lasts. If a man were to “love” a woman for the pleasure that she gave him, once he was done finding pleasure in her, he would dispose of her and move on. After all, “one does not keep the carton after one has smoked the cigarettes.” Eros focuses more on the selflessness of love. It is said that when Eros is at its “purest” and “noblest,” that the sexual pleasure is “reduced to its minimum.” Pure love...something that is rarely seen today. Love to our culture seems to look like being married for 5 years and then divorcing, a husband beating his wife, the mushiness in chick-flicks, being trivialized on shows like the “Bachelor”, woman setting up their hopes for the ideal man, etc. But when I think of pure love, my grandpa comes to mind. When my grandma had a stroke 14 years ago, my grandpa was always by her side. Her first night at the hospital, the doctors asked my grandpa to go home. He refused and put up such a fuss that the hospital brought him a cot so that he could be with my grandma at night. I have always been amazed at his devotion and loyalty to my grandma. 

Like I said above, Eros desires nothing for themselves but only thinks about the other person, just like in a Christian marriage, the husband needs to love his wife as Christ loves the Church. The husband is called to love his wife and be the leader in the household. I understand though that this can be interpreted in many different ways today and not everyone sees eye to eye on this topic. But in 1 Corinthians 11:3, it talks about how the order in the household should be God, the husband, and then the wife. C. S. Lewis says it well when he says “This headship, then, is most fully embodied not in the husband we should all wish to be but in him whose marriage is most like a crucifixion.” I saw this with my grandpa when I saw how he would do anything for my grandma and ultimately die for her. 

Learning in War - Time

One thing that I have been struggling with and spending time thinking about a lot has been humility. It is very appropriate since the presentation that I will be giving with some girls is focusing on this through “The Screwtape Letters.” It is something that God has been trying to teach me a lot about, especially through my daily readings in God’s Word.   In a devotional book that I read to help focus my attention, one day made me think. Nancy Leigh Demoss said that “A grateful heart is a humble person, while ingratitude reveals a proud heart.” Where am I not grateful to God? Reading today in “Learning in War-Time” by C.S. Lewis, I was reminded of this when Lewis is talking about how God has given everyone an appetite of knowledge and beauty. He reminds us that “God makes no appetite in vain” whether that be concerning me, a wannabe Speech Pathologist, my brother desiring to be a doctor, or my dad who is a Pharmacist. God gives us our own passions that make us thirst for more. Lewis says that “Humility, no less than the appetite, encourages us to concentrate simply on the knowledge or the beauty, not too much concerning ourselves with their ultimate relevance to the vision of God.” He goes on to say that it is dangerous when our knowing something becomes a delight not in the exercise of our talents but in the fact that they are ours, or even in the reputation they bring us.” 

Going along the same lines as above, God has given me a heart for those born with disabilities. As I have helped teach and most importantly been taught by them, I have noticed something about me that has become scary. When others who are not able to take as high of a paying job because of their cognitive level, many people including myself, do not see those with disabilities 1) as God’s beautiful children and 2) with humility in our hearts. Many times I think that just because they may not talk the same way or are always confined to a wheelchair that it is hard to see their gifts that God has given them. But one thing that Lewis says is “The work of a Beethoven, and the work of a charwoman, become spiritual on precisely the same condition, that of being offered to God, of being done humbly ‘as to the Lord.’” How beautiful it is to see feet walking that humbly proclaim God in whatever gifts that God has given them.

In “The Screwtape Letters,” C.S. Lewis brings up another good point when he mentions how we can become prideful at our own humility. “Catch him at the moment when his is really poor in spirit and smuggle into his mind the gratifying reflection, ‘By jove! I’m being humble,‘ and almost immediately pride - pride at his own humility - will appear.” This brings me back to the devotion that I read the other day about a grateful heart showing humility. When we are grateful to God for the “appetite” that He has given us no matter what we see in others and what their appetite is, we are able to show beautiful humility.