in the midst of gods and goddesses

February 16, 2010

None of us lives to himself . . . —Romans 14:7

I recently finished CS Lewis' The Weight of Glory sermon. I particularly liked the ending.

It may be possible for each of us to think too much of his own potential glory hereafter; it is hardly possible for him to think too often or too deeply about that of his neighbour. The load, or weight, or burden, of my neighbour's glory should be laid daily on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken. It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you may talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and corruption such as you now meet if at all only in a nightmare.

I don't think we recognize that the people around us are immortal beings that will one day either be transformed into a new being that will forevermore glorify God, or will become a terrifying unredeemed creature. The way we treat those around us reflects the fact that we have not realized this. In a general sense, we treat those people we like quite well (at least until they start annoying us with their little quirks), and those people we don't like a bit sub-human, surely not as a 'god'. We are selfish; we put our needs before others, we expect others to do the same in putting us on first priority; we, to a certain extent, want to be treated as gods and goddesses by those around us, while we rarely return the favor. I've been realizing more and more that it is so very difficult to love others the way God has called us to love. It's easy to just wave people off, to criticize, to judge, to place ridiculous expectations and standards upon flawed people and not give the least bit of grace when they inevitably fail our expectations.

Being reminded that the Christian brothers and sisters around me are being transformed for God's glory into beautiful beings that I will eternally worship with one day has made me realize how truly important it is to treat them as thus. We are all of one body: Christ's body. I think the most important thing is learning to love those around me the way God loves them. God sees all our flaws and impurities and recognizes the depth of our depravity, and yet, in spite of all this, He loves us and died for us. So we too, as we strive to be like Christ, ought to be able to love those around us wholeheartedly despite the few flaws we see in others, because really, those flaws are few in comparison to the ones God knows of within us.

All day long we are in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations--these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit--immortal horrors or everlasting splendours. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of the kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously--no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption. And our charity must be real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinners--no mere tolerance, or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment. Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses. If he is your Christian neighbour, he is holy in almost the same way, for in him also Christ vere latitat, the glorifier and the glorified, Glory Himself, is truly hidden.

And so, we do not live for just ourselves, we are spiritually responsible for those around us. Not that we are responsible to make them as perfect as they could possibly be (for no one can do that except the Holy Spirit), but we are responsible in helping the people around us, in striving to aid our brothers and sisters in their walk, in encouraging and gently rebuking those around us, and in not wronging or offending them with our own liberties. This goes for the way we interact with nonchristians as well of course. Our actions, our words are all witnesses to the people around us of the God we serve and love; our lives reflect our beliefs, and may we strive to live by those beliefs and allow our lives to glorify God in every way.

Has it ever dawned on you that you are responsible spiritually to God for other people? For instance, if I allow any turning away from God in my private life, everyone around me suffers. We "sit together in the heavenly places . . ." ( Ephesians 2:6 ). "If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it . . ." ( 1 Corinthians 12:26 ). If you allow physical selfishness, mental carelessness, moral insensitivity, or spiritual weakness, everyone in contact with you will suffer. But you ask, "Who is sufficient to be able to live up to such a lofty standard?" "Our sufficiency is from God . . ." and God alone (2 Corinthians 3:5 ). (Utmost, February 15)

I think that this indeed is a weighty responsibility. Our lives, with all its sins and areas in need of transformation, affect the lives of those around us, for we are all of one body, and as much as we'd like to tell ourselves that what is done in secret or thought or what may seem to not have the ability to affect anyone other than ourselves, actually affects the people around us, for we are all connected through Christ. It's a bit frightening to think that my sin can affect another person's spirituality, for we no longer have what we so often use as an excuse to sin: that that sin is no big deal because it can't hurt anyone else right? And what's more, I would not want to be revealed on judgment day to have allowed my sins to negatively affect the spiritual lives of those around me, for that would indeed be a large offense not just to my fellow brothers and sisters, but against Jesus himself for this is His body. For it is impossible to hurt one member of the body completely independently and with no consequence to the other members of the body.

And so as we live in the midst of these possible gods and goddesses, may we treat them as so, even if it requires us to give up a few of our own liberties and rights, and give each other the respect and love that we all are obligated to give to each other, no matter how undeserving we may think they are, because we all are undeserving of God's love, and yet He loves us unconditionally and freely, despite everything we are and are not.

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. (Romans 13:8)