Virtues and Vices in Our Vocations

Vocation can be both an exciting and intimidating word to think about. Right now for us at Calvin and colleges all over the world, the world seems to be right at our fingertips and yet impossible to conquer in any way, shape, or form. Calvin College focuses a lot of their freshman orientation courses around this issue. They use Prelude, Quest, and now the Developing a Christian Mind interim course to help prepare us for our current vocation as a student and our later vocations in the “real world”.  When I saw that an interim course was offered on C.S. Lewis, I was immediately interested. I had read a few books, essays, and poems by Lewis, and was captivated by his writing. I wanted to learn more. Taking this class not only expanded the array of pieces that I have read by Lewis, but it also challenged me to think about my life in ways that I had never done before. One aspect in particular that Lewis touched a lot on in the essays that I read was about the vocation that we are going to have throughout our lives. He talked about the importance of a good education, what we need to do during our lives to show that we are Christians, and also the ways that the devil might try to hinder us in our vocations. In the book entitled Engaging God’s World, Neil Plantinga also talks about what it means to have a vocation in the kingdom of God. Both Plantinga and Lewis helped me in my understanding of how I will fit in my vocation and how I can use it to glorify God.

“Learning in War-Time” was a sermon preached in the fall of 1939, which was right at the beginning of World War II. Lewis addressed many issues about wartime in this sermon; however, his points should not be taken into consideration only in times of war between countries. They can also be used in our lives as we are at war with the devil. Two specific issues that Lewis addresses include both how important the pursuit of knowledge is and also how any kind of service and work is accepted by God, as long as it is used to glorify Him. Regarding the pursuit of knowledge, Lewis says that this pursuit is vital, no matter what situation or dark time people are surrounded by: “If men had postponed the search for knowledge and beauty until they were secure the search would never have begun” (Lewis, Learning in War Time). He also says that knowledge is vital for glorifying God: “We can therefore pursue knowledge as such, and beauty, as such, in the sure confidence that by so doing we are either advancing to the vision of God ourselves or indirectly helping others to do so” (Lewis, Learning in War-Time). Lewis also makes it clear that God accepts any services as long as they are presented in the right way. Paraphrasing 1 Corinthians 12, he says, “We are members of one body, but differentiated members, each with his own vocation” (Lewis, Learning in War-Time). This sermon helped assure me that no matter what road I take in my career path, it will be pleasing to God as long as I offer whatever I do to God. Lewis also emphasized the importance of a good education, which makes me even more confident in my choice to go to Calvin college to pursue a higher degree.

Plantinga also talks about the importance of education in chapter five of his book entitled Engaging God’s World. He said, “Your college education is meant to prepare you for prime citizenship in the kingdom of God” (Plantinga 117). What I found to be most relevant was what he said about using our vocation to better God’s kingdom: “Successful living depends especially on fitting our small kingdom inside God’s big kingdom, always recalling where we got our dominion in the first place” (Plantinga 108). This visual picture gives me comfort. When there is so much hurt in the world, it often seems impossible to be able to make a difference. Plantinga reassures us, however, that whatever role we play in the world, it will be used in God’s much greater plan to bring God’s kingdom and shalom on earth as it is in heaven.

On a slightly different note than the importance of education, Lewis also gives some warnings about what can happen throughout our lives and our vocation. In the essay entitled “The Inner Ring,” Lewis talks about how we tend to always want to be part of an exclusive circle. Our world looks down on outsiders, and our human nature is such that we naturally want to be included. Lewis says that the Inner Rings themselves are not dangerous, but the desire to be in them is where the problem lies. He says, “As long as you are governed by that desire you will never get what you want...Until you conquer the fear of being an outsider, an outsider you will remain” (Lewis, The Inner Ring). This really hit home for me. I find myself always fighting to be in an inner ring. Once I feel like I’ve gotten into one, the desire to get into another exclusive circle eats away at me until I get into that one. Lewis says that this is true for all ages: “In many men’s lives at all periods between infancy and extreme old age, one of the most dominant elements is the desire to be inside the local Ring and the terror of being left outside” (Lewis, The Inner Ring). I think that as I go through my life, I will need to remember what Lewis said in this article. In my vocation, there will be many rings surrounding me that I may want to get into: people who make more money than I do, people who have more education, people who have a more stable job. Lewis challenges us by saying the only way to conquer these exclusive rings is by not desiring to be in them. We need to be content with who we are, even if we feel like an outsider. Only then will we be truly free to live the life that God intended us to live.

Another danger that Lewis warns us about is found in his book, The Screwtape Letters. In  Chapter twelve, the human that the devils are trying to lead to Hell is becoming stagnant in his religious life. Screwtape says, “As long as he retains externally the habits of a Christian he can still be made to think of himself as one who has adopted a few new friends and amusements but whose spiritual state is much the same as it was six weeks ago” (Lewis, Chapter XII). In this, Lewis is pointing out that often the problem with Christians lies where they do not realize what is happening. He says, “Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one-the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts” (Lewis, Chapter XII). This is something that I definitely do not want happening in my life as I go through my vocation. I do not want my career, vocation, and life as a Christian to become stagnant. I know that it is so easy to fall into a routine, and especially when the months grow into years, it is a natural tendency to start falling into a mundane aspect on life. This is exactly what the devil wants. On the other hand, God wants us to live our lives with a passion for Him, and to do our work with joy and with a purpose for glorifying God. This is what I want. I want to wake up every morning with the joy that I get to live out my vocation to give God the glory He deserves, and also to better His kingdom, even by just a little bit. I have to be thankful of the blessings that God has so richly poured over me; that may be the only way to conquer the “stagnant” life that Lewis talks about.

Lewis wanted his readers to be prepared in many ways. He wanted them to get a good education in order to have a desire to pursue knowledge, and he also wanted them to be prepared for what the devil could throw at them in order to hinder their desire for bettering the Kingdom of God. We have been given an awesome opportunity to glorify God through our vocations; both in the work that we do and also through our actions so that others may question why we do and say what we do.  A verse that came to my mind when Reading Lewis‘ essays comes from 1 Peter 3:15-16: "But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander." This challenge is more easily said than done; however, I think that as image-bearers of Christ we have been blessed the chance to show others what the love of God looks like. Lewis was able to do this beautifully in his writing, but we can be image-bearers in whatever vocation we are in. If we work at our vocation to the best of our abilities and also bring the glory right back to God,  we can be confident that He will tell us, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Show & Tell

I know this post is quite late, but I remembered that we needed to blog about our show and tell. What I shared on in class was about chapter 12 of Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. The patient seemed to be at a standstill in his faith. It hadn't been improving or getting stronger for the past six weeks, and he seemed to be getting in a routine where nothing happened. This reminded me of the song called "The Motions" by Matthew West. Its lyrics are:

This might hurt
It’s not safe
But I know that I’ve gotta make a change
I don’t care
If I break
At least I’ll be feeling something
‘Cause just ok
Is not enough
Help me fight through the nothingness of life

I don’t wanna go through the motions
I don’t wanna go one more day
Without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don’t wanna spend my whole life asking
What if I had given everything?
Instead of going through the motions

Both this song and the chapter are a really powerful reminder to me to not let my heart grow stagnant. I want to live out my life with a passion and excitement for Christ, and not get into a rhythm where I don't realize the countless blessings that God has so graciously given me.

The Problem of Pain

The Problem of Pain is a book that was written by C.S. Lewis, and we focused on the chapter entitled "Human Pain". This chapter was a bit overwhelming to me at first, but in a nutshell, I believe that Lewis was talking about human suffering. This is a different kind of suffering that happens when we encounter some sort of physical discomfort; rather, it's the ache we feel when something is unjust, or someone we loved has been harmed, or a dear friend/relative has passed away. Lewis says in this chapter how pain can both be a blessing, and also be a terrible thing due to a fallen world. In the last sentence of the chapter, Lewis says, "The Marxist thus finds himself in real agreement with the Christian in those two beliefs which Christianity paradoxically demands--that poverty is blessed and yet ought to be removed." Lewis also talks a lot in this chapter how ultimately, no matter what happens, we must turn to God in a time of pain. We absolutely cannot get through the pain we endure without Him.

This chapter had many great topics in it; however, it seems nearly impossible to talk about every issue it addresses. I'm going to talk about one specific topic that I thought Lewis wrote about beautifully and very relevantly. He used his own experiences to talk about what happens when one experiences pain. He said that he is normally "progressing along the path of life in [his] ordinary contentedly fallen and godless condition." He is content with what he has, and is comfortable plodding through life. When pain strikes, however, everything changes. He says, "At first I am overwhelmed, and all my little happinesses look like broken toys." He goes on to say, "I remind myself that all these toys were never intended to possess my heart, that my true good is in another world and my only real treasure is Christ." He then says that he turns to God for about forty-eight hours, until the initial threat of the pain is over. Then once life gets back to normal, he forgets about how much he needed God and goes back to his normal life.

I believe this happens too much in our lives. We only cry out to God in our lowest moments, and when we realize how much we truly need Him. As soon as the pain subsides a little bit, we get back into our daily routines of life and don't realize how blessed we truly are. This seems like a very dangerous mindset, yet all too common. I think that the only way we can combat this is if we try to remember that God has been with us at every moment, and will continue to be with us everywhere we go. If we realize this and thank God for every high and low moment, we may have a closer and more beautiful relationship with Christ than ever before.

Man or Rabbit?

The title of this essay at first confused me, and left me in suspense until almost the very end of the reading. This article talked about the difference between unintentionally ignorant people, and people who choose to be ignorant about Christianity. He is mainly addressing the question, "Can't you lead a good life without believing in Christianity?" He first tells the distinction between those who are in 'honest error' like Socrates and Confucius, who could not believe in Christianity because they never had heard of Christianity before. However, he says that the person who asks if they can live a good life without Christianity obviously has heard of Christianity but does not want any part of it. In regards to this, Lewis says, "The man who asks this question has heard of Christianity and is by no means certain that it may not be true. He is really asking, 'Need I bother about it? Mayn't I just evade the issue, just let sleeping dogs lie, and get on with being 'good?'" Lewis says that the man who does this is avoiding Christianity on purpose: "He is deliberately trying not to know whether Christianity is true or false, because he foresees endless trouble if it should turn out to be true."

Lewis then gives us a reality check: it's impossible to be good on our own efforts. He says, "The idea of reaching 'a good life' without Christ is based on a double error. Firstly, we cannot do it; and secondly, in setting up 'a good life' as our final goal, we have missed the very point of our existence." It is impossible to live our lives without Christ; only He can make us clean. The reference to the title came in when Lewis illustrated how God can help us turn into the men and women He created us to be: "All the rabbit in us is to disappear...we shall bleed and squeal as the handfuls of fur come out; and then, surprisingly, we shall find underneath it all a thing we have never yet imagined: a real Man, an ageless god, a son of God, strong, radiant, wise, beautiful, and drenched in joy." This is such a powerful image for me (and a similar illustration to the dragon image in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader). We cannot get rid of our sinful "outer shells" alone. Jesus Christ alone can help us get rid of our ugly, sinful selves to reveal the beautiful people that He created us to be.

Plantinga Chapter 5: Vocation

This chapter on vocation definitely had some points that I agreed with, and also a couple that I disagreed with. Plantinga talked a lot about how our vocation ties in with our contribution to bringing the kingdom of God. Plantinga challenges us in that we often don't want the kingdom of God, especially when everything seems to be going well for us:"When our earthly kingdoms have had a good year, we don't necessarily long for the kingdom of God to break in. We like our own setup just fine." Plantinga says that "Your kingdom come" does not mean come into existence; rather, it means, "Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven." As Americans, we often forget how much God's kingdom needs to be brought because we often have everything handed to us on a silver platter. However, as Plantinga reminds us, there are people all over the world crying out for God's kingdom to come. Plantinga says that our vocation should be our contribution to God's kingdom. I really like what Plantinga said about our kingdoms being part of God's. He says, "Successful living depends especially on fitting our small kingdom inside God's big kingdom, always recalling where we got our dominion in the first place." He goes on to describe how we are each like a king or queen in our own small "territory" but God's kingdom is overall. This gives me comfort, because I often get overwhelmed with wanting to bring the kingdom to the entire world. However, if I work at bringing God's kingdom to what I can be able to manage, it will fit inside God's much bigger plan.

Here comes my problem with what Plantinga says. Plantinga says that we need to have a higher education to be prepared to bring God's kingdom, and I agree with that. However, he also talks about the fact that the benefits to a Christian college far outweigh the benefits to a secular college. He says, "But I fear that for most Christian students mainstream higher education simply won't be adequate to help them understand the kingdom of God and their own vocation within it." He also says, "Such students will be busy with a hundred other things and won't take the time or spend the effort to sort out the good and evil in what they encounter on campus and to construct a thoughtful Christian philosophy of life on their own." Now, I have always wanted to go to a Christian college. I think that a Christian education will help to better prepare me for the rest of my life. I know that we have the rest of our lives to encounter people who are not Christians, and so a Christian college is a great preparation for that. However, that is just for me. I definitely think that there are Christians who are not called to go to a Christian college. College is a great time to witness, because although the students are adults, they are still very young and may not be as set in their ways. Also, Christians in a secular school may be challenged in their beliefs and forced to have reasons for believing what they do. Plantinga says that Christians in a secular school "will find it easier to go with the flow...sometimes unaware that they are absorbing views of the world and of life that flatly contradict the gospel." I disagree with this, because I see people going with the flow just as much at Calvin. Many of us have grown up in a Christian home, going to church all our lives, and going to Christian school. We've never been challenged in our faith because it's always been surrounding us. I believe that we too often "go with the flow" in our Christian lives, and sometimes separate our Christian lives with our social lives. I believe that a Christian college is best for me, but I definitely do not think that a Christian education is necessarily best for everyone. God's plan is different for every person.

The Inner Ring

The Inner Ring, an essay written by C.S. Lewis, was a powerful essay written on the "inner rings" that are always present in our lives. By the inner rings, Lewis is talking about the exclusive circles that we always want to be part of. This essay didn't have anything that was necessarily a brand new idea. That is one thing that I really admire about Lewis' writing. He presents information that we already probably know, but puts it into a new light so that we are able to reflect and apply it to our own lives.

We are surrounded by many "inner rings" as Lewis describes them. We are inside some of them, and outside of others. Lewis says that we encounter these rings from the day we are born: "...in many men's lives at all periods between infancy and extreme old age, one of he most dominant elements is the desire to be inside the local Ring and the terror of being left outside." Throughout our whole lives, we are always seeking and longing for acceptance. We work so hard to get into the next, more exclusive circle. The problem, Lewis says, is not the inner rings themselves: "I am not going to say that the existence of Inner Rings is an Evil. It is certainly unavoidable." He says the problem lies in the desire we have to get into these groups: "Let Inner Rings be unavoidable and even an innocent feature of life, though certainly not a beautiful one: but what of our longing to enter them, our anguish when we are excluded, and the kind of pleasure we feel when we get in?"

Not only do we long to get into these rings, but as soon as we finally get into the ring that looks good to us, we immediately want to get into the next ring. I find I have this way too much in my own life. I play the violin, and I am always looking for the next piece that I can play. I am always comparing myself to others who play pieces that seem to be much more difficult than the one that I am currently working on. I always think that once I play and conquer a certain piece, then I'll be completely satisfied. However, it doesn't work that way. As soon as I start working on a piece, I'm already thinking about the person in the practice room next to me who's working on a cooler, more difficult piece and I want to play what they are.

How can we combat these inner rings that are so prevalent in our lives? Lewis says, "The quest of the Inner Ring will break your hearts unless you break it." He is challenging us to not pursue getting into an exclusive inner ring; however, this is much easier said than done. If we are thankful for what God has given us and are not jealous of others, this may be a step in the right direction.

Eros

In his book entitled The Four Loves, Lewis talks about four different types of love. The type of love that we read about is known as Eros, or the act of "being in love". According to Lewis, this type of love is what happens before any sexual desire happens between two people. Lewis says: "Very often what comes first is simply a delighted pre-occupation with the Beloved...A man in this state really hasn't leisure to think of sex. He is too busy thinking of a person. The fact that she is a woman is far less important than the fact that she is herself."

Lewis makes the difference between Eros and sexual desire very clear: "Sexual desire, without Eros, wants it, the thing in itself; Eros wants the beloved." I thought it was very true when Lewis talked about a lustful man wanting a woman: "Strictly speaking, a woman is just what he does not want. He wants a pleasure for which a woman happens to be the necessary piece of apparatus." He goes on to say, "Now Eros makes a man really want, not a woman, but one particular woman."


I thought that in a lot of ways, this chapter was really refreshing to read. It talked so much about how Eros is all about loving the person first before there is any sexual desire. This mindset is completely opposite and counter-cultural of today's world. All of the media claims that having sex with someone when you barely seem to know them is totally okay, and it helps you to fall in love with them. When this chapter talks about Eros, I think it's comforting to know that Lewis was trying to combat the same thing when he wrote this chapter. It seemed to be a problem back then as well. It was so great to read about "being in love" as a complete preoccupation with the person because they are who they are, not because of sexual desire. The sexual desire comes as a result of two people being in love with each other. This, I believe, is what God wanted love to be like when He created it.