Removing the Dragon Skin by Jeremiah C. Braudrick

Author:Jeremiah C. Braudrick [Braudrick, Jeremiah C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781532671715
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Published: 2019-11-05T08:00:00+00:00

95. Lewis, Yours, Jack, 173.

96. Phil 4:4.

97. http://www.restorationchurchdc.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/His-Be-the-Victors-Name.pdf.

98. Lewis, Problem of Pain, 63.

10

Noticing the Dirt

No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good.

—C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity99

Lewis is a master at forcing people to dream bigger, to think larger and more expansively. One thing he did for me was take the negative view of my spiritual struggles and flip them into a positive. Lewis writes, “Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in.”100 Lewis would ask me, “Why are you so aware of the darkness inside of yourself? Why are you so aware of the sin that remains? Why is there such a large gulf between where you are and where you want to be?” The answer is because I am in the business of wanting to clean myself up. It is people like me, who generally want to do good and generally want to follow Christ, that are constantly reminded how depraved and dirty we really are. We know the strength of the German army because we have fought against it. We may have been completely steamrolled by the German army, but the attempt was made to stand our ground. We were in the resistance. When a Christian stumbles, he or she should be comforted by the fact that he or she can recognize a stumble in the first place. That’s a healthy platform to fight back from next time.

We know our ability to fall into temptation because we want to stay out of it. “That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness—they have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it.”101 It would be a scary place indeed to never fight against the rebel that lies within us. Bad people do not realize they are bad people, because they are not in the business of standing up against their badness. Those who generally delight in pleasing God will constantly be exposed to the darkness they carry around with them. This is some beautiful silver lining in the fight against our natural selves. In a world of endless hatred and a universe seemingly filled with chaos, we have found a way to focus on the good. That’s got to mean something.

I think this is why Christ’s teachings like The Sermon on the Mount102 are so important. Jesus hits his listeners with a pretty tall order. His commands, at times, seem nearly impossible to keep. He commands us to always turn our cheek when attacked. He implores us not to store up treasures here in this life. He tells us that we cannot serve both God and money. And just in case he does not snag his listeners with “do not lust” and “do not hate,” he commands us to “Be perfect,”103 just like his Father in heaven is perfect.

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