Back to the Future

“The present is the point at which time touches eternity.” --C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, No. 15.

Once again, I’m blown away at C.S. Lewis’ descriptions of time and eternity. I didn’t realize exactly how much Lewis’ work inspired Sheldon Vanauken until now. I commented about reading A Severe Mercy and how Vanauken and his wife were in that constant search for those timeless moments, and how that really struck a chord with me. Now I’m reading The Screwtape Letters, and C.S. Lewis just knocks it out of the park with the quote above.

The theme of Letter No. 15 is that, “humans live in time, but (God) destines (us) to eternity.” So, in order to divert our attention from what God wants us to think about – namely, eternity and the present. – the demons need to distract us somehow. It isn’t much value to have us dwell in the past because we have a real knowledge of the past. No, it is better if they have us living in the future, as the thought of the future “inflames hope and fear.”

Again, this really strikes a chord with me. Recently, I’ve been living in the future: Dreaming about the good – or fretting over the bad – that the future may or may not hold. I find it very difficult to not worry about the future. After all, I have a family to provide for. However, God does not want me to worry. Over and over, we are reminded, “Do not be afraid…” (John 6:20 among others)

But Lewis’ take on living in the future “inflaming hopes,” really made me do a double take. Up until now, I’ve been primarily focused on the fear and uncertainty that the future holds. I never even considered my hopes and dreams to be an issue, but Lewis does have a point. If we constantly look past the present into the future, we may overlook what God has put right in our laps here and now.

I’m going to have to chew on this one for a while.

“Hence nearly all vices are rooted in the future. Gratitude looks to the past and love to the present; fear, avarice, lust, and ambition look ahead.” --C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, No. 15.