YOUTH / WISDOM

FROM DREAM TO WAKING

“This is how I distinguish dreaming and waking. When I am awake I can, in some degree, account for and study my dream. The dragon that pursued me last night can be fitted into my waking world. I know that there are such things as dreams: I know that I had eaten an indigestible dinner: I know that a man of my reading might be expected to dream of dragons. But while in the nightmare I could not have fitted in my waking experience. The waking world is judged more real because it can thus contain the dreaming world: the dreaming world is judged less real because it cannot contain the waking one. For the same reason I am certain that in passing from the scientific point of view to the theological, I have passed from dream to waking. Christian theology can fit in science, art, morality, and the sub-Christian religions. The scientific point of view cannot fit in any of these things, not even science itself. I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen not only because I see it but because by it I see everything else.“

— C.S. Lewis, “Is Theology Poetry", The Weight of Glory (1965)

AN ECHO AT BEST

“These things – the beauty, the memory of our own past – are good images of what we really desire; but… they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited… Heaven is, by definition, outside our experience, but all intelligible descriptions must be of things within our experience. The scriptural picture of heaven is therefore just as symbolical as the picture which our desire, unaided, invents for itself . . . "

— C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory (1965)

TIM KELLER'S 2¢

“Believers should acknowledge and wrestle with doubts… It is no longer sufficient to hold beliefs just because you inherited them.”

“If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that he said; if he didn’t rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said? The issue on which everything hangs is not whether or not you like his teaching but whether or not he rose from the dead.”

“Our need for worth is so powerful that whatever we base our identity and value on we essentially ‘deify.’ We will look to it with all the passion and intensity of worship and devotion, even if we think ourselves as highly irreligious.”

“The gospel of justifying faith means that while Christians are, in themselves still sinful and sinning, yet in Christ, in God’s sight, they are accepted and righteous. So we can say that we are more wicked than we ever dared believe, but more loved and accepted in Christ than we ever dared hope — at the very same time. This creates a radical new dynamic for personal growth. It means that the more you see your own flaws and sins, the more precious, electrifying, and amazing God’s grace appears to you. But on the other hand, the more aware you are of God’s grace and acceptance in Christ, the more able you are to drop your denials and self-defenses and admit the true dimensions and character of your sin. This also creates a new dynamic for discipline and obedience. First, the knowledge of our acceptance in Christ makes it easier to admit we are flawed because we know we won’t be cast off if we confess the true depths of our sinfulness. Second, it makes the law of God a thing of beauty instead of burden. We can use it to delight and imitate the one who has saved us rather than to get his attention or procure his favor. We now run the race ‘for the joy that is set before us’ rather than ‘for fear that comes behind us.’ “

“The Bible’s purpose is not so much to show you how to live a good life. The Bible’s purpose is to show you how God’s grace breaks into your life AGAINST YOUR WILL and saves you from the sin and brokenness otherwise you would never be able to overcome… religion is ‘if you obey, then you will be accepted’. But the Gospel is, ‘if you are absolutely accepted, and sure you’re accepted, only then will you ever begin to obey’. Those are two utterly different things. Every page of the Bible shows the difference.”

MOVING MOUNTAINS

The night of my 22nd birthday, my dad called me to say happy birthday. The moment I picked up the phone he started singing me the birthday song, followed by a series of questions of my weekend plans. I told him I was going to Dave & Buster’s and he jokingly forbid me to go. Isn’t that where all the kids go to get drunk and play games, he asked. I guess I can’t blame him for such culture shocks. After I reassured him that I was going to be fine, he quickly turned the tables from a giggly laugh to a solemn tone and asked, ‘Can I just ask you one thing?‘ Of course, Dad. ‘I’ve been reading the news lately, and people are dying left and right…‘ Okay and…? ‘If you died tonight, do you know if you would go to heaven?‘ I can’t count how many times he’s asked me this specific question in my past 22 years, but for the first time in a long time, I found myself listening and thinking hard about both the reason for his asking and the question itself. After what seemed like a while, I answered, ‘Yeah… yeah I do.‘ To my non-surprise, he asked how? ‘Because Jesus died for me…‘ I also can’t count how many times in the past I’ve used ‘Jesus‘ as my guaranteed approved answer. He knew this too, so he proceeded to talk about his church-going friends who would say the same thing but live such unconvincing lives… I stopped him there and said, as best as I could in my broken korean, that I knew I was going to heaven because I knew deep down inside (and out) that I was a sinner. ‘…There’s no good that I’ve done or could do to change that, but I know Jesus took my place out of love…‘ He broke out with the most asian expression of approval, ‘Ahh puh-pect! (perfect)’ and then asked, ‘Then why do you do good deeds?‘ I thought about it soberly and replied as honestly as I could, ‘…because I’m eternally thankful.‘

Right then and there, I heard him tear up. Maybe he heard the feeble attempt at honesty in my voice. Or maybe, most likely, he was reminiscing on his own experiences of grace. Whichever the case, he was losing it, and it was the first time in all 22 years of my life I’ve heard my dad cry. This was the man who didn’t even cry at his own dad’s funeral. I remember now, I was 8 or so, bawling and watching him through my tears as he stood there over the grave, speechless, emotionless, holding it together for the sake of his family. He loved his dad more than life itself and even that couldn’t shake him. Here was that man, struggling to say next, ‘Ha I don’t know what’s gotten into me these days, I can’t control my tears even when at church… I mean, who am I? I’m a nobody… but do you know how thankful I am for what Christ has done for me… he’s given me heaven and earth in exchange for my worthless soul…‘

As I sat there listening to him share about God’s work in his life, I completely lost it. It was the first time my dad and I really talked about the gospel together. In tears for that matter. All these years, I’ve seen my dad’s flaws and failures. His anger, his frustrations, his short-comings. And words don’t need to describe how many times I’ve failed him as a daughter. But I’ve also seen his unwavering love, his diligence, his integrity, and now his humility. I can honestly say that God is faithful and that “he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” (Phil1:6) It’s true what Jesus says about faith: it can move mountains.