thoughts from clive staples.

i'm continually thankful for c.s. lewis. i highly recommend this book: a year with c.s. lewis: daily readings from his classic works. lewis always seems to put my thoughts into words in a way that i could never articulate.

i wanted to underline every sentence from september 12th's reading, so i thought it might be a good idea to share it on here. hope it challenges and encourages you, too. enjoy.

Some writers use the word charity to describe not only Christian love between human beings, but also God's love for man and man's love for God. About the second of these two, people are often worried. They are told they ought to love God. They cannot find any such feeling in themselves. What are they to do? The answer is the same as before. Act as if you did. Do not sit trying to manufacture feelings. Ask yourself, 'If I were sure that I loved God, what would I do?' When you have found the answer, go and do it.

On the whole, God's love for us is a much safer subject to think about than our love for Him. Nobody can always have devout feelings: and even if we could, feelings are not what God principally cares about. Christian Love, either towards God or towards man, is an affair of the will. If we are trying to do His will we are obeying the commandment, 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.' He will give us feelings of love if He pleases. We cannot create them for ourselves, and we must not demand them as a right. But the great thing to remember is that, though our feelings come and go, His love for us does not. It is not wearied by our sins, or our indifference; and, therefore, it is quite relentless in its determination that we shall be cured of those sins, at whatever cost to us, at whatever cost to Him.

--from Mere Christianity

a deep, emotional feeling of love for God is something i find myself more often than not merely wishing for. though the chill bumps and fast heart beats come and go, i must continue to choose to love him. it certainly doesn't sound very romantic, but perhaps a covenantal, relational commitment is sometimes a little less picturesque than we might make it out to be. in my flesh, i absolutely cannot muster up a love for him on my own. praise god that he, at times, gives us those overwhelming feelings.

i'm thankful that he is faithful when i am faithless, that his love is relentless when mine is indifferent.