More Lewis Musings

Original post: 2/24/07

"But pain insists upon being attended to, God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world." - The Problem of Pain

"No doubt Pain as God's megaphone is a terrible instrument; it may lead to final and unrepented rebellion. But it gives the only opportunity the bad man can have for amendment. It removes the veil; it plants the flag of truth within the fortress of a rebel soul. If the first and lowest operation of pain shatters the illusion that all is well, the second shatters the illusion that what we have, whether good or bad in itself, is our own and enough for us." - The Problem of Pain

In my earlier post I quoted C. S. Lewis and a friend gave the quote in context:

"To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket-safe, dark, motionless, airless-it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable." - The Four Loves

I began to wonder why this is-why loving something is to be vulnerable-and think I may have stumbled onto part of the answer: forgiveness. There is a disparity between our desires to love something and to keep ourselves guarded from pain. We want to have someone to give ourselves to; to lend us support and comfort. At the same time, we want to guard from allowing ourselves to place our trust in another, often because of past experiences in which that trust is broken. We are not stupid creatures, so after enough broken trust, we begin to create barriers to shield ourselves from this pain.

However love requires forgiveness. Forgiveness is a repeated, conscious decision to accept vulnerability. It is an admission of past pain and recognition of the chance of future pain. But it is also an admission that there is a chance for greater peace and joy to be experienced which would outweigh any chance of pain, not matter how great the pain may be.

As fallen humans, we are subject to constant pain through the failure of others, even though the pain and the failure might be unintentional. We break promises and undermine expectations daily. It is only in the Lord that we find not only the potential to maintain these expectations, but a promise never broken. Only God can follow through completely on what He promises. And, hopefully, His grace and benevolence provide us with an example of the constant forgiveness we are to emulate, despite our fallen nature. Only by following his example are we able to overcome past pain and find the strength to endure any future pain; knowing that we ourselves have been forgiven of the greatest pain ever caused.

All I know is that I'm not a fan of a coffined heart.

Psalm 117
1. Praise the LORD, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples.
2. For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD.