Thoughts on “So, What Have I Chosen?”
Continuing my new Tuesday theme of posting my thoughts first penned in The C.S. Lewis Journal. Today’s quote is one I wasn’t familiar with. I may have to pull out my copy of The Weight of Glory and read the source.
A Quote from Lewis
Law, in his terrible, cool voice, said, . . . ‘If you have not chosen the Kingdom of God, it will make in the end no difference what you have chosen instead’. Those are hard words to take. Will it really make no difference whether it was women or patriotism, cocaine or art, whisky or a seat in the Cabinet, money or science? Well, surely no difference that matters. We shall have missed the end for which we are formed and rejected the only thing that satisfies. Does it matter to a man dying in a desert by which choice of route he missed the only well?
from ‘A Slip of the Tongue’ in The Weight of Glory
My Rambling Thoughts
This quote reminds me of my favorite Bible verse: John 14:6, which says, “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'” It at once comforts me and saddens me. Because the conclusion that Jesus is the only way to the Father—when one has chosen Him but has loved ones who have chosen patriotism or whisky instead—is a hard truth to take.
Oh, it’s not as if I haven’t been tempted to choose differently at times. Fame as a New York Times bestselling author is tempting indeed. And I have no doubt I could get there should I be willing to give up integrity and truth for the words itching ears long to hear.
And at one time I was beyond tempted to—in fact, embraced—a life of bitterness and clinging to my right to be angry at injustice done to me. I chose not God’s Kingdom forgiveness but my own bitter kingdom of vengeance.
The kingdom of self is, I think, at the core of what keeps some of those I care deeply about from choosing the Kingdom of God.
I wonder if my own lack of clarity about my Kingdom loyalty, and the humility that I sometimes fail to let be known, are to blame. But even in that I see my own choice, momentarily, of the kingdom of self. For only God can draw them to His Son. Only He can point the dying man to the only well in the desert.
A Closing Prayer
Heavenly Father, May Your Kingdom come and Your will be done. Help me always choose You, each day as many choices are before me. Amen.
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Life is all about choice. The one choice of receiving Christ as our Lord and Savior is the one choice that makes the most difference. Yes, may I choose Him every day, but thank God for His seal of salvation when I don’t. Romans 5:1.
I did not get a paint chip poetry prompt this week. Taking a break?
That is the one choice that matters. The rest is temporary.
I did post a paint chip prompt last Friday, but it was a little later in the day than usual because I didn’t get it finished and schedule on Thursday evening. I might have left the word “prompt” out of the title.