January 25, Growing up

In one sense the road back to God is a road of moral effort, of trying harder and harder. But in another sense it is not trying that is ever going to bring us home. All this trying leads up to the vital moment at which you turn to God and say, 'You must do this. I can't.'
-C.S. Lewis

One thing I see that differs greatly between Christianity and other religions is that at the core of Christianity you have Christ: the Redeemer who came to cleanse humanity of their sins, and sinful nature because we, no human being will ever be good enough, or perfect enough, or righteous enough to bring themselves into right relationship with God. Other religions have people trying their very hardest to be good enough. And at the very start of Christianity you flat out declare, "I am not good enough nor will I ever be. I need Jesus." Christians cannot be good enough to get to God. I suppose that makes us all look pretty pathetic and maybe a tad bit lazy but I certainly am NOT good enough, nor will I ever be. Praise the Lord for Jesus.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way we begin the delicate dance of trying to balance two simple truths that don't seem to go together all that well.
1.) I am not good enough. I need Jesus.
2.) I love Jesus and I desire and intend to follow His commands. (Jn 14:15)

(continuation from quote above) Do not, I implore you, start asking yourselves, 'Have I reached that moment?' Do not sit down and start watching your own mind to see if it is coming along. That puts a man quite on the wrong track. When the most important thing in our life happens we quite often do not know, at the moment, what is going on. A man does not always say to himself, 'Hullo! I'm growing up now.' It is often only when he looks back that he realizes what has happened and recognizes it as what people call 'growing up.' You can see it even in simple matters. A man who starts anxiously watching to see whether he is going to sleep is very likely to remain wide awake. As well, the thing I am talking of now may not happen to every one in a sudden flash - as it did to St. Paul or Bunyan: It may be so gradual that no one could ever point to a particular hour or even a particular year. And what matters is the nature of the change in itself, not how we feel while it is happening. It is the change from being confident about our own efforts to the state in which we despair of doing anything for ourselves and leave it to God.
-C.S. Lewis
The Business of Heaven