A man's spiritual health is directly proportional to his love for God. Whoa. Quote of the Week, hello! The new book I grabbed this week turned out to be The Four Loves by C. S. Lewis, and though I've only just reached chapter 3 I'm hooked (well, I was hooked since I read the Narnia series; I knew I was going to love this guy, regardless of what else he had written. But this is another, equally amazing side of C.S. Lewis, which I'm gradually discovering, and am excited to discover...) This book is going to be fascinating. I'm constantly amazed at how Lewis can present such powerful insight so simply, so effortlessly. And it's not dry either. His quiet humor and grace peeps through every sentence; it's like a personal, even informal conversation (with an amazing person, of course!) At any rate. The Four Loves is a fascinating discussion of love which I couldn't possibly condense here without ruining the effect of the book as a whole (and I wouldn't want to.) But that line in chapter one really made an impression on me--not because I didn't know it before but because sometimes you need to be reminded of a truth, as simply as possible. And Lewis put it so simply. We'd all like to grow spiritually. But other than a hazy idea of having to spend more time reading our Bibles and squeezing another minute of prayer time into our schedule, or perhaps making it to a few more prayer meetings or taking better sermon notes--and other ideas which are vaguely unpleasant to our flesh--how? These methods in themselves are not what actually make us grow spiritually, as we tend to think. Rather, they are means to help us grow in our love for God--and not the only means, either. It's so much simpler than we think it is. Stop worrying about how much is enough, or how little you can get away with. Focus on actively taking care of, and growing, our love for God. We should see our devotions and sermon notes not so much as a duty we'd better do to keep ourselves floating spiritually, but as opportunities to grow in our love for God. Spiritual growth follows naturally when love for God flourishes. This way, we stop seeing them as things to be done--boxes to be ticked--procedures whose end results are spiritual growth as long as we can survive the process. We won't be rushing through them, or getting a false sense of pride and security just because we ticked that box seven days running. Gradually, we'll learn to treasure and enjoy them as the times we get to learn about God, think more about Him. Talk to Him more. Be awed by Him. And inevitably, to love Him more.
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