And he gives us excellent advice. He tells us that, as Christians, we are to "pretend to be like Jesus". And he points out the difference between hypocrisy and learning.
He teaches us what loving means, and being kind, and being generous. At first, we really do have to fake these things, at least the way that Lewis is meaning it here. We probably don't feel especially loving toward smelly homeless people, or toward the sick or those in prison. We probably don't FEEL particularly kind toward our family members. We probably don't FEEL very generous with our money when we give it to the church or to the poor.
But something I've noticed when I engage in online discussion... even when I'm feeling annoyed or angry at another person, when I use kind language, they reply with kind language (often... maybe even usually). And this leads me to use even kinder language. And before you know it, we're friends. At least, we're fb friends. And I definitely didn't START there.
None of us starts there. We all start selfish, sinful, and silly. But when we fake it for awhile... we end up maybe really caring about each other.
God, thanks for helping us fake it until we really genuinely care about other people.
2 comments:
Johnette Benkovic, a Catholic author and media person, taught "practicing holiness" in her Women of Joy program.......the idea being that you eventually will become holy if you practice it when you don't feel holy at all. I liked the idea and I struggle to do it sometimes....but other times I can do it. It is a good practice to adopt.
So very true
Post a Comment