Thursday, March 3, 2016

what we deserve

Lewis talks about what we deserve in today's selection from A Year with C.S. Lewis. And he makes good points, but he's unable to take his imagination quite far enough to envision the complete lack of moral base in much of today's society. I'm not bagging on today's society. They've given up morality, and to their detriment, it's true. But it doesn't help them OR me if I sit here and talk about how bad they are. It helps them if I pray for them, if I love them, if I hope the best for them to come back to finding morality, because that's the only true way to happiness.

But Lewis has a hard time getting out of his loop of morality. He says it's not fair to force someone to go through rehab if they don't "deserve" it. But he doesn't quite foresee that people in the future (today) would actually not CARE if it's "fair" or not. They would actually do it just to better society. Or to better that man. Whether or not he "deserved" it, they couldn't care less.

That brings up the idea of what we deserve. We all deserve many things. We deserve good things and bad things. We have loved, and we have hurt. Even the most despicable man who ever lived did SOME good in his life. And even the best saint who ever lived still sinned.

So what we deserve is a mixed bag. What God gives us is the sun that shines and the rain that falls on the just and the unjust alike. God desires that we are all saved from our sins. He is "willing that none should perish." And He asks us to love each other, whether we deserve it or not. Love our enemies, He says, and pray for those who hurt us. 

Next time we think about giving someone what they deserve... remember, they deserve good and bad, both. And God instructs us to give them the good.

That's what He did for us, after all.

Thanks, God, for your mercy and grace. Please teach me to be more merciful and more graceful.