In this chapter Lewis addresses a point he made in the previous chapter - that God expects believers to be perfect - and mentions that this evoked a negative response (when he spoke about the topic on-air). Some people felt that when Lewis said God expects us to be perfect, he meant that God would not help us unless we are perfect. But Lewis does not think that is what Jesus meant when He said, "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matt 5:48). He thinks it means, "The only help I will give is to help become perfect. You may want something less, but I will give you nothing less."
We can think of it this way. Lewis talks about when he was a child and would get a toothache. He says he could go to his mother and ask her for medicine to help with the pain, but he would never do this until the pain became unbearable. He would suffer through it until he could stand it no longer because he knew that once he told his mother about the toothache, she would give him medicine, but she would also do something else: take him to the dentist to fix the root of the problem. Then the dentist would inevitably poke around at all the rest of his teeth until they had set all of them right. He could not get what he wanted (relief from the pain) without getting something more that he did not want.
This is sort of how God is. We go to him to be cured of a particular sin that shames us or that makes daily life difficult. "Well, He will cure it all right, but he will not stop there." This is why Jesus tells us to count the cost before we choose the path of Christianity.
We can think of it this way. Lewis talks about when he was a child and would get a toothache. He says he could go to his mother and ask her for medicine to help with the pain, but he would never do this until the pain became unbearable. He would suffer through it until he could stand it no longer because he knew that once he told his mother about the toothache, she would give him medicine, but she would also do something else: take him to the dentist to fix the root of the problem. Then the dentist would inevitably poke around at all the rest of his teeth until they had set all of them right. He could not get what he wanted (relief from the pain) without getting something more that he did not want.
This is sort of how God is. We go to him to be cured of a particular sin that shames us or that makes daily life difficult. "Well, He will cure it all right, but he will not stop there." This is why Jesus tells us to count the cost before we choose the path of Christianity.
So God demands and expects perfection, and that is His goal for every Christian, but the equally important thing to remember is that He is just as proud of our first stumbling, feeble efforts in the process. A father is pleased and happy, even excited, when his baby takes its first faltering steps, but that father would not be satisfied if the baby did not go on to have a firm, confident, steady walk by the time it was a grown adult. God will not be disappointed by any effort we make toward the end goal, but neither will He be satisfied until we get to that end goal He has in mind for us.
And it's important for us to remember that perfection is what we Christians are in for because otherwise we find ourselves getting to a certain point and then pulling back or resisting. We overcome a few sins and become a little better and then start to feel we are now good enough. We have no intentions of becoming saints; we only want to be decent people.
But it is not about what we want for ourselves. It is what the Creator of our Selves intended for us when He made us. "We may be content to remain what we call 'ordinary people,' but He is determined to carry out a quite different plan. To shrink back from that plan is not humility; it is laziness and cowardice. To submit to it is not conceit or megalomania; it is obedience." Sometimes the process is rough and painful and difficult, but we must see that it is only because God is forcing us up, onward, to a better and higher level; putting us "into situations where [we] will have to be very much braver, or more patient, or more loving, than [we] ever dreamed of being before. It seems to us all unnecessary: but that is because we have not yet had the slightest notion of the tremendous thing He means to make of us."
And it's important for us to remember that perfection is what we Christians are in for because otherwise we find ourselves getting to a certain point and then pulling back or resisting. We overcome a few sins and become a little better and then start to feel we are now good enough. We have no intentions of becoming saints; we only want to be decent people.
But it is not about what we want for ourselves. It is what the Creator of our Selves intended for us when He made us. "We may be content to remain what we call 'ordinary people,' but He is determined to carry out a quite different plan. To shrink back from that plan is not humility; it is laziness and cowardice. To submit to it is not conceit or megalomania; it is obedience." Sometimes the process is rough and painful and difficult, but we must see that it is only because God is forcing us up, onward, to a better and higher level; putting us "into situations where [we] will have to be very much braver, or more patient, or more loving, than [we] ever dreamed of being before. It seems to us all unnecessary: but that is because we have not yet had the slightest notion of the tremendous thing He means to make of us."
This is what Jesus meant when he told us to count the cost. He will give us what we need every step of the way, and He will never leave us on our own, but He will not stop with us until we are perfect. And we must not be content to stop either because there are far better things ahead than these things we leave behind.
*This post is part of a 31 day series on C.S. Lewis' book Mere Christianity. If this is your first stop along the way, I am so glad you’re here! I would love to interact with you in the comments, or you can email me by clicking on the "Contact Me" tab at the top right of the page. All of the blog posts in this series will be linked together on the intro page if you are interested in reading more. Click here to be taken to the introduction post, and if you want to follow along with the whole series, enter your email address in the box toward the top right corner to subscribe to the blog. Thanks for reading!
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