An Ode to Lewis and Love

For those of you who may not have a near relationship with me, or maybe even those of you who do, I am a fan of Clive Staples Lewis.  He was a brilliant writer, an exceptional apologist, and a decent theologian.  Yet for the vastness of his catalog, there is one in particular that distills this mighty man's theology and intellect the best: Mere Christianity.  Today's blog is a take on one of his essays in that book, an essay on loving and liking.  It is a riff on the commands to love thy neighbor as thyself and to love thine enemies.  (Disclaimer: I will be speaking a lot about self-love in this article; do not mistake this as a sidestep from the reality that all love stems from God's love.  Rather, the love that is God's is the foundation by which this whole argument rests upon.)

The major thrust of this argument begins with an internalization of the question, chiefly, how do I love myself?  But perhaps it is best to strip the layers to a more accessible breadth: why do I love myself? What for?  And does this love mean that I have to like or accept ever part and piece of myself?

I can only speak for myself in this regard but I, like C.S. Lewis, can think of many components of my person that are, shall we say mildly, unlikeable.  To say it more directly there are parts of me that are downright repulsive, repugnant, and abhorrent.  But luckily this love that I have for myself can look past these qualities, yet I have not ever been so un-self-aware as to ever 'misplace' these parts when taking inventory of myself.  On the contrary, it is my love for myself that chastens me to call out those 'lesser' parts as the evil putrescence they are.

I can not accept those bits of myself that are sinful and evil for to do so would be, in fact, the most unloving thing that I could possibly do.  However, it is my love that presses on beyond those deficiencies to offer merciful, forgiving love.

Translating this from the introspective to the external perspective, when God commands us to love our neighbors as ourselves He is not saying that we need to pretend that their flaws do not exist and we should not conceive of evil as anything else when we love our enemies.  Rather, we know that love moves past those elements in the expectant hope that the sinfulness can and will be transformed by Christ's transformational love passing through us.  Let then strive to love in this way, not judging but loving with hope and mercy and forgiveness just as Christ has loved us!