muses

What Satan put into the heads of our remote ancestors was the idea that they could ‘be like gods’—could set up on their own as if they had created themselves—be their own masters—invent some sort of happiness for themselves outside God, apart from God. And out of that hopeless attempt has come nearly all that we call human history—money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery—the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.

The reason why it can never succeed is this. God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other.

- C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.

C.S. Lewis

Was reading Philip Yancey’s The Jesus I Never Knew (BTW, I think Yancey is an excellent, excellent writer and I would like to read his book “When God Doesn’t Answer Your Prayer”…) and twice he quoted C.S. Lewis from the Weight of Glory (another book on my ‘to read’ list). And I couldn’t agree more. More often than not, I’ve settled for the little thrills and pleasures that this world offers than to seek the immeasurable joy that God wants to grant me. My desires have been attenuated by my careless diet, and I need to retrain my taste buds.