C.S. Lewis on Repentance

As I was reading, I came across the following passage from the great Christian thinker, C.S. Lewis.  He’s discussing man, and the situation in which he finds himself prior to accepting Christ as Lord and Saviour.  Lewis says:

“Now what was the sort of ‘hole’ man had got himself into?  He had tried to set up on his own, to behave as if he belonged to himself.  In other words, fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement: he is a rebel who must lay down his arms.  Laying down your arms, surrendering, saying you are sorry, realising that you have been on the wrong track and getting ready to start life over again from the ground floor—that is the only way out of our ‘hole’.  This process of surrender—this movement full speed astern—is what Christians call repentance.  Now repentance is no fun at all.  It is something much harder than merely eating humble pie.  It means unlearning all the self-conceit and self-will that we have been training ourselves into for thousands of years.  It means killing part of yourself, undergoing a kind of death.  In fact, it needs a good man to repent.  And here comes the catch.  Only a bad person needs to repent: only a good person can repent perfectly.  The worse you are the more you need it and the less you can do it.  The only person who could do it perfectly would be a perfect person—and he would not need it….But the same badness which makes us need it, makes us unable to do it.  Can we do it if God helps us?  Yes, but what do we mean when we talk of God helping us?  We mean God putting into us a bit of Himself, so to speak….Now if we had not fallen, that would be all plain sailing.  But unfortunately we now need God’s help in order to do something which God, in His own nature, never does at all—to surrender, to suffer, to submit, to die….You and I can go through this process only if God does it in us….”

I am so thankful for this reminder from Lewis’ pen.  I need to constantly think on these things.  I must consistently acknowledge my own inability to save myself.  I must consistently acknowledge my own inability to even submit to Him without His first acting in my heart and mind.  Oh, the amazing grace that is bestowed on the believer by the Most High.  If not for that grace, we would do naught but wander aimlessly the pathways of life, with the end result being eternal punishment.  But instead, by the infinite grace of God, by His regenerating power, by His choosing and drawing us, we are able to humbly submit to Him, and accept the totality of who He is—our glorious, gracious Saviour and Lord.

~ by Matt on October 26, 2007.