Category Archives: C. S. Lewis

The New Life is a Life Free From the Power of Sin.

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We were created to be united or one with God. Before Adam and Eve chose their own way above God’s way, they were one with Him. Sin entered our world when they made the choice to follow themselves and they were separated from God. That separation is death.

“And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”” Genesis 2:16-17 NIV

With death, or separation from God, comes darkness and destruction into our lives. That is because God is the author of Life itself. We cannot truly LIVE apart from Him.

Sin Destroys!

For those of you who have attended an Ashes to Beauty Encounter weekend, the testimonies of sin’s destruction, in the lives of the women, are proof of that point. Truly if we examine ourselves, we can see it in our own lives. Anytime I have chosen my own way instead of God’s, I have experienced the misery of sin in my life. That is why God repeatedly warns us of what exactly sin is.

“The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Galatians 5:19-21 NIV

God does not speak of sin because He wants to be a cosmic killjoy. He want us to walk free of sin so we can be close to Him, united to Him once again.

Although the consequences of our sins are painful, we often find ourselves not willing to repent from them. Because the truth is, we love to sin. We want to do our own thing. We do not want to obey God. I say this from my own personal experience. I had to get my fill of sin in order to see how desperate I was for the New Life that God offered to me.

I needed to see that the fruit of this New Life that is empowered by the Holy Spirit, the very things I longed for, could be in me.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23 NIV

I had to get sick of it! I had to get desperate! That is when I determined that I needed to love God with all my heart, mind, and soul. That is when I repented from my sin and asked God to cleanse me and empower me to live free! That is when I began to experience the New Life in it’s abundance!

Are you where I was? When you look deep inside, are you living in peace, joy, and love? Or is your heart full of fear, anger, rage? Do you run to God with life’s ups and downs or are you trying to deal on your own and in your own way? This can be through self effort, self medicating- alcohol, drugs, self help books, etc. Are you sick of it?

There is New Life in Jesus that frees us from the power of sin!

Reflections on Mark: Mark 3:20-35 Liar, Lunatic, or Lord

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Following Jesus is not a popular thing to do. The world will tell you things like, “Christianity is too judgmental.” “Jesus was just a good man.” “Jesus’s ways are old fashioned. Out of date.”

In Jesus day, the world around Him did not accept Him either. The religious leaders tried to explain away His miracles by saying, “He is demon possessed.” His family said, “He is out of His mind.” But Jesus’s answer to their accusations was simple.

“How can Satan drive out Satan?” Mark 3:23 NIV

In other words, “You’ve seen me cast out demons. Can Satan cast out himself? Can Satan bring evil, do the Good I’ve done?”

C.S. Lewis said this of Jesus: “Jesus was either a liar, a lunatic, or Lord.” We all stand at that crossroads of decision in our own life. What will we say about Jesus and His role in our lives?

Jesus makes one more statement in this chapter speaking of our relationship to Him. He came to our world to hold out the invitation to relationship to God. Our choice is to accept that invitation, follow Him and do His will. Here is what happened:

“Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.” “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked. Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”” Mark 3:31-35 NIV

Where do you land in relating to Jesus? Have you judged Him as our world has, “out of date”, “too judgmental ”, “just a good man” I.e. a liar and lunatic? Or is He Lord? And are you obeying Him doing His will? The one who does God’s will is a part of His family! There is no better place to be, a part of the Family of God! May we choose to live with Jesus as our LORD!

The Heart Set on Pilgrimage

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“If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.” – C. S. Lewis

Finally the Christmas Season! I’m one of those Thanksgiving/ Christmas purist. My Fall Decorations go up toward the end of September and they stay up until the Thanksgiving Celebrations are over for our Family. This year it feels like I’ve been looking at pumpkins and scarecrows FOREVER! I want to properly spend my time in Thankfulness during the Month of November. Sometimes I think we miss just how important it is to give thanks. But now Thanksgiving is done it’s time to break out the Christmas decorations, pull out my Peanuts Christmas and Grinch shirts, and start wearing my new “Elf” socks that include a pair that says “Cotten headed niny muggins”. Oh yeah!!! But most importantly it’s time to focus in on the real reason for celebration, Jesus’ Birth.

A couple of days ago my Bible reading included Psalm 84. In it was a short section of scripture that has not ever stood out to me before.

“Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baka, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭84:5-7‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The word “Pilgrimage” has been resonating inside of me each time I read it. It has me thinking about different kind of Pilgrimages. I live a couple of hours away from my home town, my brothers both live out of state. About a 7 hour drive for each of them. So each year we try to pick a time to meet at my parents house to celebrate Thanksgiving or Christmas with them. It’s kind of like a mini pilgrimage home.

Then there was the Pilgrimage that Mary and Joseph set out on,before Jesus was born, to return to Bethlehem via decree of Caesar for a Census. Not exactly the type of Pilgrimage that Mary appreciated late in her pregnancy with Jesus, but totally ordained by God so that the prophecies about Jesus could be fulfilled. Some pilgrimages are joyful. Some are not. Some are easier than others, some not so much

This particular section of scripture has had me thinking of my “spiritual pilgrimage”. And how it says that I am blessed if my heart is “set on it”. This got me curious. What exactly is a “pilgrimage” so I consulted my handy dandy Webster’s 1828 Dictionary app.

PIL’GRIMAGE, n. A long journey, particularly a journey to some place deemed sacred and venerable, in order to pay devotion.

Painting my Grandma Fern Burkman did. Makes me think of our Pilgrimage from dark to light.

The Psalm points out that if my heart is “set upon this long journey to a sacred place, Zion, the Mountain of God, I am blessed. And that as I pass through the “valley of baca” (weeping, tears) it is transformed to a place of springs and pools and I go from Strength to Strength in this journey. What an assurance that God has His way of taking the chapters written about our pilgrimage that were hard, sad, and even unbearable and changing them to the chapters that produced the most beautiful endings in our lives! Our valley of weeping truly is changed to a place of fruitfulness by the touch of His hand.

Ask Mary and Joseph some 2000 years ago as they traveled a hard road to a place with no room for them during a forced pilgrimage, what God can do. A dirty stable can be transformed to a place of heavenly worship, complete with Angel choirs when Jesus “steps in”, or is “born into” our pilgrimage. He has a way of doing that kind of transformation just by being here with us, our pilgrimage is blessed as we set our hearts on the Him and the destination of our heavenly home with Him. Weeping truly is turned to Joy as we set our Longing on being with Him every step of the way to our Heavenly home. This longing for another world C.S. Lewis was talking about in the quote above is the destination of our pilgrimage that we were made for and the journey that God gladly goes with us on. That is who He is and we are reminded of this fact this Christmas Season.

Emmanuel, God With Us! Now and Forevermore!