the big purpose behind it all

Lewis tells us what it's all about today in A Year with C.S. Lewis. But I take a page out of his own book and disagree with him. (it's ok to disagree among friends)

He says that the whole purpose of the Church is to bring men into Christ. And he goes on to suppose that the whole purpose of creation is to do the same.

But that kind of leaves us in a strange position. If the whole purpose of the church and the cosmos are to bring us into Jesus... then what will be the purpose of everything once we're IN Jesus?

At the end of the Narnian Chronicles, Lewis says that the entire story we just read was just the beginning of a book that will last forever. And I think that's where we find ourselves in his thoughts today. I think that the church and the cosmos DO bring us to Jesus. But once there, I think we live forever in love and in the kingdom of God. And that's not being brought into Jesus... that's being in Jesus and living our eternity lives.

If you take Lewis the wrong way (which is easy to do) then all of our spiritual lives are about evangelism. The only reason we're here is to help other people become Christians. If, such a person might say, the entire world became Christians... then the world would not need to exist anymore and we would all die immediately and go to heaven.

But of course that's not what it's about. We DO share our faith with other people... not just people who aren't Christians, but we share our faith with other Christians. We share our faith with everyone. And sure, sharing that faith does sometimes mean that people who are not Christians decide to become Christians, in response to the Holy Spirit drawing them.

However, life is about much more than that. Life is about art, and music, and love. It's about so many things that He has given us to enjoy. It is about living the kingdom of God in the here and now.

Let's not get stuck on page one.

God, thanks for giving us so much to live for.