When Means Become Ends - The Great Divorce

What if there was a bus that connected Hell and Heaven? What if souls from Hell could ride that bus, and interact with people they knew in their life who God took to live with Him forever? 

What if the souls, put face to face with the truth, still refused to repent? 

That's the premise of The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis. It's a wonderful work of fiction that, in characteristic Lewis fashion, contains multitudinous nuggets of wisdom scattered throughout that reflect the truth of the Bible. 

Though The Great Divorce is most certainly not intended to be factual—Lewis himself says that it's not written to speculate about the nature of the afterlife—it contains a striking image of human nature. Lewis deals with topics like moral relativity, the pride of "respectability", and the shame that comes from trying to constantly hide your sin. 

Another recurring theme is "too much of a good thing". One of the most striking scenes is a conversation between a mother and her brother. The mother is constantly asking about her son, when she can see him, but her brother (a resident of the heavenly Paradise) keeps telling her that her son is not who she's here to see. She flares up at him, telling him that her love for her son is "the highest and holiest feeling in human nature." But her brother tells her that she does not, in fact, have a pure mother-love; instead, her love has sickened into an obsession, and it's really idolatry. 

"Brass is mistaken for gold more easily than clay is," says Lewis's Teacher. And he's right. If you have something good, then it's instinctual to hold on to it. But, if left unchecked, that good thing can become an idol. You've kept the gift—but at the cost of the one who gave it. 

James 1:17 says, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." Every gift, whether it's money, a house, an ability, or a person, is from God. Everything. 

Let's try to treat it like that. It's the easiest thing in the world to let a good thing become a stumbling block. God has given us gifts for a reason—let's use them for the purposes He intended, instead of melting them down into a golden calf to adorn our coffee table. 

Every sin can be redeemed. Every gift is from God, and if we let the tools become the final goal, then we will never use them to give Him glory.

Comments

  1. IsabellaFebruary 26, 2022 at 6:44 PM

    This book sounds so interesting! I've read the Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis before, which was really good, and this sounds just as good and like it's also helpful spiritually!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Emma ThrasherFebruary 27, 2022 at 3:28 PM

      Yeah, it's definitely a great read! It's been too long since I've read the Screwtape Letters; I should check that out again.

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