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The one thing I most absolutely love about C.S. Lewis is that every time I read his work, it causes me to think. One is always left with the sense that the world is very much finally explained clearly when he explains it, and the truth fits so perfectly.
But there's something in how he reveals the truth through example and imagery that always jumpstarts my brain into similar paths of thought. And in thinking of the gift of life, of the very nature of christianity, I think a rather fitting image has made its way into mind.
This image is one of a nursery, as it were, filled with children, and the one parent. As I see it, we are the children, and this life that we all seem to inhabit can be symbolized in the form of a toy given to each of us by God. They were all his toys, but he has given each of us this single toy to act with as we see fit. Now, the very nature of our belief is that being who we are, we have all immediately broken our toy. It is our very nature to do so. And this is where God has given us the fix. He has told us time and again, as seen in his word, that he has come by and offered to take our toy from us, fix it for the time being, but with the promise that later he will give each and every one of us children a new and perfect toy that can never be broken or marred, and will never once cease to amuse us.
But being the selfish and childish children we are, we clutch desperately to our broken toy, yelling at the top of our lungs that it is ours, that he cannot have it, forgetting every moment of doing so that it was never ours to cling to so, but a gift for a temporary time. And so, this grown-up, this parent watching over us, did the most logical thing, and sent in his own kid with a toy of his own. But the thing is, this new child, he did not break his toy. He did not scuff it, mar it, or anything but make it shine. And when the time came when dad came by and asked for it, promising this even better toy, his son hands it over without fighting, showing through example what the proper way of acting with our toy is supposed to look like. Even better, this father immediately hands his son this new and perfect toy before anyone else. Then the son turns to the rest of us and says, see, this is what you could have if you would just let dad have your broken toys.
And so, some of the children turn to the parent and say, take our toy, we want the new one when it is our time. We're sorry for breaking our toys. But still, some children ignore the promise of the perfect toy, and instead concentrate fiercely on their broken one. As time passes, these toys continue to break down further. They occasionally find a bit of worn tape or a pretty bow to place on it to make it look nicer, but nothing can stop these childrens' toys from remaining broken at best.
And there comes a time, preceded by little signals that the parent speaks of. 10 minutes left, 5 now, 3... And finally comes the time when all the children are commanded to hand in their toys, whether they want to or not. Now, those children who have said they wish to be forgiven for their broken toy and want the perfect one, they are given it, and told that they may stay forever with these new and personalized toys. But the bad ones, those who clung to what they thought as theirs, they not only lose their toy, the parent tells them that he will never see them again, that they shall never return, that there will never be a toy for them again.
Any further than this and the analogy no longer works, but such is way of analogies and God. There is no perfect comparison because there has never been anything exactly like it and never will be.
But there's something in how he reveals the truth through example and imagery that always jumpstarts my brain into similar paths of thought. And in thinking of the gift of life, of the very nature of christianity, I think a rather fitting image has made its way into mind.
This image is one of a nursery, as it were, filled with children, and the one parent. As I see it, we are the children, and this life that we all seem to inhabit can be symbolized in the form of a toy given to each of us by God. They were all his toys, but he has given each of us this single toy to act with as we see fit. Now, the very nature of our belief is that being who we are, we have all immediately broken our toy. It is our very nature to do so. And this is where God has given us the fix. He has told us time and again, as seen in his word, that he has come by and offered to take our toy from us, fix it for the time being, but with the promise that later he will give each and every one of us children a new and perfect toy that can never be broken or marred, and will never once cease to amuse us.
But being the selfish and childish children we are, we clutch desperately to our broken toy, yelling at the top of our lungs that it is ours, that he cannot have it, forgetting every moment of doing so that it was never ours to cling to so, but a gift for a temporary time. And so, this grown-up, this parent watching over us, did the most logical thing, and sent in his own kid with a toy of his own. But the thing is, this new child, he did not break his toy. He did not scuff it, mar it, or anything but make it shine. And when the time came when dad came by and asked for it, promising this even better toy, his son hands it over without fighting, showing through example what the proper way of acting with our toy is supposed to look like. Even better, this father immediately hands his son this new and perfect toy before anyone else. Then the son turns to the rest of us and says, see, this is what you could have if you would just let dad have your broken toys.
And so, some of the children turn to the parent and say, take our toy, we want the new one when it is our time. We're sorry for breaking our toys. But still, some children ignore the promise of the perfect toy, and instead concentrate fiercely on their broken one. As time passes, these toys continue to break down further. They occasionally find a bit of worn tape or a pretty bow to place on it to make it look nicer, but nothing can stop these childrens' toys from remaining broken at best.
And there comes a time, preceded by little signals that the parent speaks of. 10 minutes left, 5 now, 3... And finally comes the time when all the children are commanded to hand in their toys, whether they want to or not. Now, those children who have said they wish to be forgiven for their broken toy and want the perfect one, they are given it, and told that they may stay forever with these new and personalized toys. But the bad ones, those who clung to what they thought as theirs, they not only lose their toy, the parent tells them that he will never see them again, that they shall never return, that there will never be a toy for them again.
Any further than this and the analogy no longer works, but such is way of analogies and God. There is no perfect comparison because there has never been anything exactly like it and never will be.
