The Problem With Being Good! | C.S. Lewis

The Christian life is simply a process of having your natural self changed into a Christ self. And that this process goes on very far inside. One’s most private wishes, one’s point of view are the things that have to be changed. That's why unbelievers’ complaint with Christianity is that it is a selfish religion. “Isn't it very selfish—even morbid—” they say, “to be always bothering about the inside of your own soul, instead of thinking of humanity?”

Now what would an NCO say to a soldier who had a dirty rifle, and when told to clean it replied, “But sergeant, isn't it selfish—even morbid—to be always bothering about the inside of your own rifle instead of thinking of the United Nations?” Well we needn't bother about what the NCO would actually say. You see the point: the man is not going to be much used to the United Nations if his rifle isn't fit to shoot. Quite in the same way people who are still acting from their own natural soul won't do much real permanent good to other people.

Let me explain that.

History isn't just a story of bad people doing bad things. It's quite as much a story of people trying to do good things, but somehow something goes wrong. Take the common expression “cold as charity.” How do we come to say that? From experience. We've learnt how unsympathetic, patronizing, and conceited charitable people often are. And yet, hundreds and thousands of them started out really anxious to do good, and when they’d done it, somehow it just wasn't as good as it ought to have been.

The old story, “what you are comes out in what you do.” A crabapple tree can't produce eating apples. As long as the old self is there, its taint will be over all we do. We try to be religious and become pharisees. We try to be kind and become patronizing. Social service ends in red tape and officialdom. Unselfishness becomes a form of showing off.

I don't mean, of course, that we should stop trying to be good; we've got to do the best we can. If the soldier is fool enough to go into battle with a dirty rifle, he mustn't run away. But I do mean that the real cure lies far deeper. Out of ourselves and into Christ we must go.

The change won't, for most of us, happen suddenly. And I must admit that for most Christians it'll only be beginning at the very end of our present lives. But there are some in whom it goes further, even before death—far enough for you to see it. Their very faces and voices are different. When you meet them, you know you're up against something which, so to speak, begins where you leave off—something stronger, quieter, happier, more alive than ordinary humanity.

[amcds]

I just came from Church where the person preaching the sermon told the story of a Christian woman who was married to a Hindu husband in North India, and she would have the habit of getting down on her knees to untie her husband's shoelaces whenever he arrived home. One day while she was doing this the man was furious because of a bad day at work and took it out on his wife by kicking her so violently she fell and hit her head on a wall. She soon noticed she was bleeding from her head and wrapped a towel around it. She then got back down on her knees to untie her husband's shoelaces. He asked her why she put up with a "wild beast" like him, and she answered "it isn't me, but Jesus in me." Some time later this man became a Gospel preacher in India.

[stevencook]

Focusing on our own behaviors doesn’t change them. Focusing on Jesus and allowing him to work through us does.

[MarkVsd]

For myself, I wish there wasn't this constant need to embellish. The words are incredibly well stated and stand on their own. The music for me is a distraction, as if all of life needs a sound track, as if silence itself isnt powerful, or a sort of tacit 'correction' to help where the words arent enough. But they are enough.

[felixr]

"Out of ourselves and into Christ" that's deep.

[mss]

"As long as the old self is there, its taint will be over all we do."

[AlabamaMothman]

It takes a strong man to be good and kind. Anybody could be evil

[chrismachin]

I’ve found the goal of life is to glorify God in everything you do. Everything flows from that aim.

[JohnMoore-qvvn]

Not exactly sure why background muzak was needed, but thank you.

[johnb]

Bouquet for posting this material.
Brickbat for the Muzak.
Please let Lewis speak for himself, without distraction and competition.

[ewencameron]

I sometimes think the words of CS Lewis have the most power when we immediately apply them to our own lives and situations with as much honesty as we’re able.
In the comments below there is a story of an Indian woman being abused by her husband and seemingly enabling her abuse and it’s true that some Christian admonitions can seem unreal and not worth considering in the real world.
yet perhaps that Indian woman had a wise and knowing soul that knew when and where to apply her Christianity and it apparently changed her husband
I suspect it’s not cherry picking our Christianity to apply it when we feel like it but rather a wisdom born of experience of this fallen world while not losing our Christian hope.
I hope this makes sense

[chrismuga]

"Out of ourselves, and into Christ, we must go..."

[davidparker]

With all of my imperfection, which is horrifying, I can only assume I have a need to be perfected. I only wish it was much more my nature to be perfect. "Seek, and you will find", as I preach to myself. So far, far from me. Bless you all.

[mackdmara]

I worry that some people mistake a jovial person of good charisma, for a good person.

[WadeWeigle]

I wish this man was still with us.

Thank you for sharing this.

[Jerry.anthony.c]

2:20 - The Oldself a curse.
2:50 - Out of ourselves and into Christ we must Go.

[thomaswayneward]

Well we now know what we must do. But how do we do it? Simple, we don't and can't do it; Christ must do it for us and by asking Christ for His help, we will attain what Jesus wants us to be.

[Daniel-wpfq]

Thank you guys! God definitely has used C.S Lewis to bless my life in moments of doubt, pain and confusion. I'm in the middle of reading the pilgrims regress and just like most great Christian literature, the themes are more relevant than ever. God bless!

[jeanaston]

So so good. Just finding this channel and it is amazing to hear Lewis’s original recorded voice. Thank you.

[lopinitupou]

Very deep thinker
Bless your soul C.S. Lewis

[michaelraiger]

The problem with being good is that it’s never one of being but becoming. As Flannery O’Connor said, we’re all the “good under construction.” It’s why many reject Christianity. None of us are perfect yet we’re the carriers of the good news. None of us are good enough. But we can’t stop trying. That’s the problem!