There is either a warning or an encouragement here for every one of us. If you are a nice person — if virtue comes easily to you — beware. Much is expected from those to whom much is given.
If you mistake for your own merits what are really God's gifts to you through nature, and if you are contented with simply being nice, you are still a rebel, and those gifts will only make your fall more terrible, your corruption more complicated, your bad example more disastrous.
The Devil was an archangel once; his natural gifts were as far above yours as yours are above those of a chimpanzee.
✦ The Warning
Lewis begins where no one expects — not with the sinner but with the saint. Not with the broken but with the whole. Not with the Much-Afraid but with the naturally virtuous. Beware. If goodness comes easily to you — if you are naturally kind, naturally patient, naturally generous — beware. Because you are in the most dangerous position of all: the position of thinking you did it yourself.
The nice person mistakes God's gift through nature for personal merit. The naturally virtuous person thinks: I must be doing something right. And Lewis says: no. You are still a rebel — a rebel who happens to be wearing beautiful clothes. The gifts do not prove your goodness. They prove God's generosity. And if you are contented with simply being nice — if you rest on the gifts instead of the Giver — the fall will be worse than the fall of the one who never had the gifts at all.
And the proof — the most chilling sentence Lewis ever wrote: the Devil was an archangel once. His natural gifts were as far above yours as yours are above those of a chimpanzee. The highest angel became the lowest demon. Natural gifts without surrender are not safety. They are dynamite. 🙏
But if you are a poor creature — poisoned by a wicked upbringing in some house full of vulgar jealousies and senseless quarrels — saddled by no choice of your own with some loathsome perversion — nagged day in and day out by an inferiority complex that makes you snap at your best friends — do not despair.
He knows all about it. You are one of the poor whom He blessed.
✦ Do Not Despair
Lewis turns — and the passage becomes one of the most tender things he ever wrote. But if you are a poor creature. Not the nice person. Not the naturally virtuous. The poor creature. The one poisoned by circumstance. Saddled by no choice of her own. Nagged by an inferiority complex. Snapping at best friends. The one the world looks at and says: hopeless.
The Much-Afraid with the malformed feet. The 500 denari debtor who cannot pay. The trampled soul in the cheap apartment. The woman at midnight in the hospital. The poor creature.
And to that person — to her — Lewis says three words that undo every fear the valley can produce: do not despair. And then the reason: He knows all about it. Not some of it. All of it. The wicked upbringing. The senseless quarrels. The perversion you did not choose. The inferiority complex. The snapping. The failure. He knows. And He has not walked away.
You are one of the poor whom He blessed. Matthew 5:3 — blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Not the nice. Not the naturally virtuous. The poor. The broken. The ones who have nothing to offer except their need. And the kingdom is theirs. 🙏
He knows what a wretched machine you are trying to drive. Keep on. Do what you can.
One day — perhaps in another world, but perhaps far sooner than that — He will fling it on the scrap heap and give you a new one.
And then you may astonish us all — not least yourself — for you have learned your driving in a hard school.
✦ Learned Your Driving in a Hard School
He knows what a wretched machine you are trying to drive. Lewis does not say the machine is your fault. He does not say you chose it. He does not say you should have maintained it better. He says: He knows. The body that fails. The mind that falters. The heart that breaks. The past that clings. The fears that return. The valley that keeps coming. He knows what you are driving — and He does not condemn you for the roughness of the ride.
Keep on. Do what you can. Seven words. The most compassionate instruction in all of Lewis. Not "try harder." Not "be better." Not "activate the formula." Keep on. Do what you can. That is all. That is enough. Jon Bloom said it: press on, don't short-change the process. Lewis says the same: keep on. The driving is hard. The machine is wretched. But the Driver is learning.
And the promise — one day He will fling it on the scrap heap and give you a new one. The egg hatched. The candle overwhelmed by the risen sun. The pencil lines vanishing into the real landscape. The wretched machine replaced — not repaired, not patched, replaced — with something new. Something that works. Something worthy of the road ahead.
And then you may astonish us all — not least yourself. The poor creature. The one with the malformed feet. The one who drove the wretched machine through the hardest school. She will astonish everyone. Because the hard school produced something the easy school never could — a driver who knows the road, who knows the potholes, who knows what it costs to keep going when everything says stop. Some of the last will be first. And some of the first will be last. The archangel who had everything fell. The poor creature who had nothing — kept on. 🙏
"He knows what a wretched machine you are trying to drive. Keep on. Do what you can. You have learned your driving in a hard school."
C.S. Lewis · Mere Christianity · The last will be firstLet the law be with you — to love it and do it in the spirit of the gospel, so that you may not be unfruitful in your life.
Let the law, I say, be with you — not as it comes from Moses, but from Christ.
For though you are set free from the law as a covenant for earning life, you are still under the law to Christ. And it is to be received by you, as from His hand, to be a rule of your daily life.
✦ Not From Moses, but From Christ
Bunyan draws the distinction that Lewis was pointing to — the difference between the nice person who obeys the law to earn approval and the poor creature who obeys the law because she has already been loved. Not from Moses, but from Christ.
From Moses, the law is a covenant for earning life — obey and you will live, disobey and you will die. The formula. The activation code. The performance that earns the reward. And Bunyan says: you are set free from that. The 500 denari have been forgiven. The price has been paid. The Prince has stooped and rescued. You do not owe the law your salvation.
But from Christ, the law is something else entirely — a rule of daily life, received from His hand. Not a burden but a gift. Not a condition but a companion. The way Le carries the Daily Remembrancer — not as an obligation but as a friend. The way Le reads Bunyan and Smith and Spurgeon — not to earn approval but because the love is already there and the obedience flows from it.
Bowen said it: pardon and power over sin are inseparable. You are pardoned — and therefore you obey. Not to earn the pardon. Because the pardon has already changed you. The law carried in the heart is the fruit of the gospel, not the root of it. 🙏
"Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other."
A new morning opens upon us, and we are still exposed to sorrow, Satan, and disappointment; sin lives in us, and a thousand things are ready to distress us. But our God says, "Look to Me."
✦ Look to Me Today
Isaiah 45:22 — the verse that converted Spurgeon as a boy of fifteen in a chapel in Colchester. A lay preacher looked at him and said: young man, look to Jesus Christ. Look! Look! Look! You have nothing to do but look and live. And Spurgeon looked — and was saved. The simplest command in all of Scripture. Look.
And now James Smith brings the same verse to Le's morning — with all his pastoral tenderness. A new morning opens upon us. The wild animals are ready. The sorrow is possible. The disappointment is near. Sin lives in us. A thousand things are ready to distress. But our God says: Look to Me. Not look to yourself. Not look to others. Not look to the formula. To Me. 🙏
Look to Me today. I have blessings to bestow. I am waiting to be gracious. I am your Father in Jesus.
Believe that I am deeply interested in your present and eternal welfare: that I will perform all I have promised; that I am with you, on purpose to bless you. I cannot be unconcerned about anything that affects you; and I pledge Myself to make all things work together for your good.
✦ I Cannot Be Unconcerned
I am waiting to be gracious. Not reluctant. Not distant. Not withholding until you perform correctly. Waiting. The Shepherd who said to Much-Afraid: I have waited a long time to hear you make that suggestion. The God who is not on the shelf. The Father who is deeply interested — not casually aware, not vaguely informed, deeply interested — in your present and eternal welfare.
And the pledge — I cannot be unconcerned about anything that affects you. Anything. Not just the spiritual things. Not just the dramatic moments. Anything. The health problems. The motorhome maintenance. The highway through Spain. The morning coffee. The walk with Jolie. Chambers said it: comer, beber, andar, falar — all ordained by God. Smith says: He cannot be unconcerned about any of it. Because you are His.
And the promise that seals everything: I pledge Myself to make all things work together for your good. Romans 8:28. The verse that has run through this entire journal like a golden thread. All things. Not some things. Not the easy things. All things. The valleys and the mountains. The wretched machine and the hard school. The midnight in the hospital and the morning in Caldas da Rainha. All working together. All pledged. All His. 🙏
You have looked to self and others in times past, but you have only met with trouble and disappointment.
Now look to Me alone — to Me for all your daily conduct in the world.
✦ To Me Alone
Smith diagnoses the failure that every soul knows: you have looked to self and others in times past. Looking to self — the wretched machine trying to drive itself. Looking to others — the formula-makers, the nice people who have not yet fallen, the world that promises what it cannot deliver. And the result — trouble and disappointment. Every time. Without exception.
And the prescription — the simplest, most complete instruction a pastor can give: now look to Me alone. Not to Me and yourself. Not to Me and the formula. Not to Me and your own strength. To Me alone. For all. For everything. For your daily conduct in the world.
Lewis said: keep on. Do what you can. Smith says: look to Me alone. Both are saying the same thing. The keeping on is not done by your own power. It is done by looking — every morning, every moment, every step — to the One who knows the wretched machine and loves the driver anyway. To Him alone. 🙏
"You have looked to self and others in times past, and met only trouble. Now look to Me alone — to Me for all."
James Smith · Daily Remembrancer · Look to MeThe Warning
If virtue comes easily — beware. Much is expected from those to whom much is given. The Devil was an archangel once. Natural gifts without surrender are not safety. They are dynamite.
The Encouragement
If you are a poor creature — do not despair. He knows all about it. You are one of the poor whom He blessed. Keep on. Do what you can. You have learned your driving in a hard school.
Not Moses, but Christ
The law received from Christ's hand — not as a covenant for earning life, but as a rule of daily living. A gift, not a burden. The fruit of the gospel, not the root. Pardon and obedience — inseparable.
Look to Me Alone
I have blessings to bestow. I am waiting to be gracious. I cannot be unconcerned about anything that affects you. Look to self — trouble. Look to others — disappointment. Look to Me — salvation.