Here’s a quote in which C. S. Lewis corrects some common errors about motivation, self-denial, and rewards –
“The New Testament has lots to say about self-denial, but not about self-denial as an end in itself.
“We are told to deny ourselves and take up our crosses in order that we may follow Christ; and nearly every description of what we shall ultimately find if we do so contains an appeal to desire.
“If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith .
“Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised to us in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak.
“We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in the slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.
“We are far too easily pleased.” C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory.
When we withhold forgiveness we fore-go the day at the beach and remain where we sit forming the muddy mess of our lives into pies which we would never dream of eating or offering to another for we know these only appeal to our imagination, not to our reality.
Forgive. Live in reality. Set your mind on the infinite joy God has provided.
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