Quotes for today

To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you. This is hard; … how can we do it? Only, I think, by remembering were we stand, by meaning our words when we say in our prayers each night, ‘Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.’ We are offered forgiveness on no other terms. To refuse it means to refuse God’s mercy for ourselves.

~C.S. Lewis

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Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.

~Mark Twain

Quote for today

The essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, greed, drunkenness and all that, are mere flea-bites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil. Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.

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If any one would like to acquire humility, I can, I think, tell him the first step. The first step is to realize that one is proud …. If you think you’re not conceited, it means you are very conceited indeed.

~C.S. Lewis

Quote for today

You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England

~ C. S. Lewis

read more quotes on C.S.Lewis Daily

Quote for today

Genuine love is so contrary to human nature that its presence bears witness to an extraordinary power.

~ John Piper

When I have learned to love God better than my earthly dearest, I shall love my earthly dearest better than I do now.

~ C.S. Lewis

Quotes for the week

Today I want to share with you some quotes from C.S.Lewis (1898-1963), a former atheist, author of the Chronicles of Narnia:

I gave in, and admitted that God was God.

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God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.

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If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be without meaning.

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A man can no more diminish God’s glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, ‘darkness’ on the walls of his cell.

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Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see.

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Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.

(from BrainyQuote.com)

Humility * Demut

This morning during my Bible reading, my thoughts drifted off to a quote from C.S. Lewis that I had read recently:
“Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.” (quoted in The advent of humility)

My thought drifted further to all kinds of interpretations of humility, exhortations to be more humble, accusations of not being humble enough, claims of being humble even if it is just an expression of low self value, etc.

Basically, in C.S.Lewis’ definition humility is a kind of selflessness. There are different kinds of humility and selflessness. Selflessness can be very unhealthy, for example, when it is rooted in a denial of old hurts, or a way of devaluing yourself. Those who sweep old unresolved hurts under the carpet, won’t have the foundation of self-acceptance needed without which a healthy humility is impossible in my opinion. Others devalue themselves, disparage themselves and think that anybody else is more valuable, more gifted, etc. This view is in contradiction to God’s value and esteem for us, as his creatures. All these forms of wrong humility or selflessness are rooted in a thinking of one self too often, and therefore the opposite of real humility, according to C.S. Lewis’ definition.

I believe that humility is only real humility when it is rooted in a healthy self-understanding and self-esteem. Only those who have found to themselves, who are living out of God’s acceptance and esteem for us and who know their value, can let go of themselves and thereby think of themselves less, in other words be humble. Only those who are certain of their own value, have no fear that valuing others would devalue them, be a threat to them. In addition, humility is a fruit of the Spirit, and therefore needs to be produced by the Spirit. It cannot be achieved by our own effort, nor through the exhortation of others (or to ourselves).

I think it is helpful to know what real humility looks like, so we can aim at it, pray for it, and let the Spirit do his work in us. At the same time we can resist all false claims, expectations, accusations or feelings of guilt. Of course, we can fall off the horse on the other side, for example, through an attitude of indifference and complacency. It’s a balancing act.

I have the hunch that the best contribution we can make to this transformation through God’s spirit, is to open ourselves up to his healing and learn to live out of his love and acceptance. “Living loved!” If I know that my heavenly father values my, appreciates me, loves me and provides for me, then I don’t need to think of myself as often. Then I would be humble, but I would not know, because I think of myself less.

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Heute früh in der Bibellese schweiften meine Gedanken zu einem Zitat von C.S. Lewis das ich vor kurzem hier las:
“Demut ist nicht, dass man weniger von sich hält, sondern dass man weniger an sich selbst denkt.”

Meine Gedanken wanderten weiter, zu den vielen verschiedenen Interpretationen von Demut, Aufforderungen demütiger zu sein, Anschuldigungen nicht demütig genug zu sein, Behauptungen demütig zu sein obwohl es sich mehr um mangelndes Selbstwertgefühl handelt, usw.

Im Grunde ist Demut nach C.S.Lewis Definition eine Art Selbstlosigkeit. Aber es gibt verschiedene Arten von Demut oder Selbstlosigkeit. Selbstlosigkeit kann auch ungesund sein, wenn sie z.B. in der Verleugnung von Verletzungen besteht, oder wenn man sich selbst abwertet. Wer seine unverarbeiteten Verletzungen unter den Teppich kehrt, dem fehlt das Fundament der Selbstannahme ohne die es meiner Meinung nach keine gesunde Demut gibt. Wer wenig von sich selber hält, sich selber herabsetzt und meint alle anderen können alles besser, oder seien besser, lebt im Widerspruch zu Gottes Wertschätzung für uns als seinen Geschöpfen. Im letzten sind alle Formen falscher Demut verwurzelt im zu viel an sich selbst denken, also das Gegenteil von echter Demut.

Ich denke, nur eine gesunde Selbstlosigkeit, die auf einem gesunden Selbstverständnis und Selbstwert basiert, ist echte Demut. Nur wer sich selbst gefunden hat, aus der Annahme und Wertschätzung Gottes lebt, kann sich selbst so loslassen, dass er kaum noch an sich selber denkt, also demütig ist. Dazu kommt, dass Demut eine Frucht des Geistes ist, also nicht durch eigene Anstrengung oder Aufforderung von anderen (oder an sich selbst) zu erreichen ist.

Ich glaube, es ist hilfreich sich diese Definition von Demut vor Augen zu halten. Es ist gut zu wissen, wie echte Demut aussieht damit wir danach streben, dafür beten und Gottes Geist seine Arbeit in uns machen lassen können. Gleichzeitig können wir alle falschen Ansprüche, Aufforderungen und Schuldzuweisungen entwaffnen. Natürlich kann man damit auch auf der falschen Seite vom Pferd fallen, z.B. mit einer Einstellung der Gleichgültigkeit oder Selbstgefälligkeit. Es ist eine Gratwanderung.

Ich habe den Verdacht, dass unser bester Beitrag in diesem Prozess der Veränderung durch Gottes Geist, ist sich seiner Heilung zu öffnen und aus seiner Liebe und Annahme leben lernen. “Geliebt leben!” Wenn ich mich von meinem himmlischen Vater geschätzt, geliebt und versorgt weiß, dann brauche ich weniger an mich selbst denken. Dann wäre ich demütig, aber ich wüsste es nicht, weil ich weniger an mich selbst denke.