Now we begin to see what it is that the New Testament is always talking about. It talks about Christians "being born again"; it talks about them "putting on Christ"; about Christ "being formed in us"; about us coming to have "the mind of Christ."
Put right out of your head the idea that these are only fancy ways of saying that Christians are to read what Christ said and try to carry it out. They mean something much more than that.
✦ Much More Than That
Lewis begins by sweeping away the most common misunderstanding of Christianity in a single sentence. The world hears "born again" and thinks: try harder. The world hears "putting on Christ" and thinks: imitate a good man. The world hears "the mind of Christ" and thinks: study His teachings and apply them. And Lewis says: put that right out of your head.
That reduction — read what Christ said and try to carry it out, the way you might read Plato or Marx — is the formula. It is the paint on the surface. It is the egg trying to fly without being hatched. And Lewis is about to describe something so much larger, so much more radical, so much more alive, that the formula looks like a child's drawing next to the real landscape. 🙏
They mean that a real Person, Christ, here and now, in that very room where you are saying your prayers, is doing things to you. It is not a question of a good man who died two thousand years ago. It is a living Man, still as much a man as you, and still as much God as He was when He created the world, really coming and interfering with your very self; killing the old natural self in you and replacing it with the kind of self He has.
✦ Interfering With Your Very Self
A real Person. Here. Now. In that very room. Not a memory. Not a historical figure to be studied from a distance. Not a philosophy to be applied to your daily routine. A living Man — still as much man as you, still as much God as He was when He created the world — really coming and interfering with your very self.
Lewis chose that word — interfering — deliberately. Not assisting. Not advising. Not gently suggesting improvements. Interfering. Because what Christ does is not gentle cooperation with your plans. It is the killing of the old natural self and the replacing of it with the kind of self He has. Luther said it from the Canal du Midi: faith is God's work in us that kills the old Adam and makes us completely different people. Augustine said it: ardemos e partimos — we burn and we depart. Spurgeon said it: the dye soaks right through. And Lewis says it with the clarity that strips away every evasion: He is doing things to you. In the room where you pray. Before dawn. Right now.
On Holy Saturday — the day between the cross and the resurrection — the living Man who died yesterday is about to prove that He is still alive. And the interference He began at midnight in a hospital in Lubbock, Texas, has never stopped. 🙏
At first only for moments. Then for longer periods. Finally, if all goes well, turning you permanently into a different sort of thing — into a little Christ, a being which, in its own small way, has the same kind of life as God; which shares in His power, His joy, His knowledge, and His eternity.
✦ At First Only for Moments
At first only for moments. Lewis said the same thing about coming out of the wind — we can only do it for moments at first. The transformation is not instant. The egg does not hatch all at once. The dye does not soak through in a single wash. At first only for moments. A flash of His presence in your prayer. A sudden clarity in the Scripture. An Emmaus moment when the heart burns. A moment — and then the old self reasserts, the wind rushes back, the wild animals return.
Then for longer periods. The moments grow. The quiet life flows in more steadily. The old self dies a little more each day. The interference becomes less foreign and more familiar. The killing and the replacing become less painful and more welcome — because the self that is being formed is better than the self that is being killed.
Finally — turning you permanently into a different sort of thing. A little Christ. Not Christ Himself — Spurgeon was careful about that: the essence of Deity is not to be participated in by the creature. But a being which, in its own small way, has the same kind of life as God. Shares in His power. His joy. His knowledge. His eternity. The egg has become a bird. The paint has become dye. The pencil drawing has become the real landscape. And the candle flame has been overwhelmed by the blaze of the risen sun.
This is what Jon Bloom called the extraordinary growing out of the ordinary. Brick upon brick. Morning upon morning. Moment upon moment. And one day — the little Christ is permanent. 🙏
"A real Person, Christ, here and now, in that very room where you are saying your prayers, is doing things to you."
C.S. Lewis · Mere Christianity · Holy SaturdayEstou plenamente certo de que aquele que começou boa obra em vós há de completá-la até o Dia de Cristo Jesus.
Porque nos foi concedida a graça de padecermos por Cristo e não somente crermos Nele. 🙏
✦ He Who Began Will Complete
Le opened her mother's Bible. The Bible that carries her mother's hands, her mother's prayers, her mother's Psalm 23. And she found Philippians 1:6 — the verse that says He finishes what He starts.
Aquele que começou boa obra em vós há de completá-la. He who began the good work in you will complete it. Not might. Not hopes to. Há de. He will. The hatching of the egg will not be abandoned halfway. The dye will soak all the way through. The little Christ that is being formed will be finished — not by her effort, but by the faithfulness of the One who began it.
Lewis says at first only for moments, then for longer periods, finally permanently. Paul says the same thing in one sentence: He who began will complete. The beginning was His. The process is His. The completion will be His. And between the beginning and the completion — every morning before dawn, every entry in this journal, every moment of interference — He is at work. The good work is in progress. And the One who started it does not abandon His projects.
Le's mother knew this. She held this Bible. She read this verse. She prayed Psalm 23 over her daughter's life. And the good work that was begun — at midnight in a hospital, through a Catholic priest, by the hand of the living God — is being completed. Day by day. Morning by morning. Moment by moment. Até o Dia de Cristo Jesus. 🙏
✦ The Grace of Suffering
Nos foi concedida a graça de padecermos por Cristo e não somente crermos Nele. We have been granted the grace not only to believe in Him but also to suffer for Him.
The grace of suffering. Not suffering as punishment. Suffering as grace. The same grace that saves is the grace that allows the suffering that shapes. Peter said it: do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal. Fosdick said: our best character comes when we suffer as a Christian. Le said: when I suffered with Jesus, I developed the character and the independence God wanted for me. And Paul — in Le's mother's Bible — says the suffering was granted. Given. Conceded as a privilege. Not a mistake. Not an accident. Grace.
On Holy Saturday — the day the disciples sat in the darkness of a suffering they could not understand — this verse holds everything. The suffering of yesterday was grace. The silence of today is grace. And the resurrection of tomorrow will prove that the grace was working all along — even in the darkness, even in the tomb, even in the hours when it looked like the good work had been abandoned. It had not. He who began will complete. 🙏
To know the love of Christ, to taste its sweetness, to experience it personally and vitally, as poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit — it is the privilege of the child of God alone.
This is a protected enclosure into which the stranger cannot enter. This is the garden of the Lord, so well guarded by walls and hedges that no wild boar of the world can break in.
Only the redeemed of the Lord walk there. They, and only they, may pick the fruit and satisfy themselves with its delights.
✦ The Garden of the Lord
After Lewis's living Christ and Paul's completing work, Spurgeon takes us to the place where all of this is experienced: the garden. Not a public park. Not an open field. A protected enclosure — walled, hedged, guarded — into which the stranger cannot enter and the wild boar of the world cannot break.
This is where the love of Christ is known — not merely as doctrine but personally, vitally, poured out in the heart by the Holy Spirit. The formula-follower stands outside the wall and reads about the garden. The stranger peers over the hedge and imagines the fruit. But the child of God — the redeemed, the born-again, the one who has been interfered with by the living Christ — walks inside. Picks the fruit. Satisfies herself with its delights.
It is the privilege of the child of God alone. Le said it: I'm just a child in my Father's eyes. And this is the child's privilege — not earned, not purchased, not activated by a code. Given by birth. The same inheritance Spurgeon named on Monday — by birth, not by work. The child enters the garden because she is a child. The redeemed walks there because she is redeemed. The 500 denari daughter picks the fruit — because the debt was forgiven, and the garden is her Father's. 🙏
✦ Between the Cross and the Resurrection
Holy Saturday. The day between. Yesterday the cross — the cost paid, the burden carried, the Shepherd laying down His life. Tomorrow the resurrection — the third day, the stone rolled away, the blaze of the risen sun. And today — the silence. The waiting. The tomb.
But in the silence, the garden holds. The walls stand. The fruit is available. The living Christ who was crucified yesterday is doing things even now — even in the tomb, even in the darkness, even in the hours when it looks like nothing is happening. He who began the good work is completing it. The interference has not stopped. The killing of the old self and the replacing with the new — it continues. At first only for moments. Then for longer periods. And finally — tomorrow — permanently. The egg will hatch. The sun will blaze. And the little Christ will rise.
Forty-five entries in this journal. Forty-five mornings of a living Man interfering with a pilgrim's self — killing the old, replacing it with the new, turning her, moment by moment, into a little Christ. And He who began will complete. 🙏
"At first only for moments. Then for longer periods. Finally — turning you permanently into a different sort of thing. A little Christ."
C.S. Lewis · Holy Saturday · Between the cross and the resurrectionA Living Man
Not a good man who died two thousand years ago. A living Person — here, now, in the room where you pray — really coming and interfering with your very self. Killing the old. Replacing it with His own kind of self.
A Mother's Bible
Filipenses 1:6 — He who began the good work will complete it. Found in her mother's Bible. Her mother's hands held these pages. Her mother's faith carried this promise. And the promise holds — até o Dia de Cristo Jesus.
The Protected Garden
The love of Christ — tasted personally, poured out by the Holy Spirit — is the privilege of the child of God alone. A protected enclosure. Only the redeemed walk there. Only they may pick the fruit.
The Third Day Is Coming
Holy Saturday — the silence between. The cross was yesterday. The resurrection is tomorrow. In the silence, the garden holds. The good work continues. He who began will complete. The egg will hatch. The sun will blaze.