Being Distracted
C.S. Lewis had a way of capturing spiritual reality in words. Consider the opening pages of The Screwtape Letters. In that scene the demon Screwtape is recounting one of his “success stories”, how he had distracted an atheist from thinking about ultimate things. Screwtape first interrupted the atheist with thoughts of lunch, and then, once he had him moving in the “right” direction, he got him to take a break and finally read a newspaper. The devil’s goal was to get him to focus on the “immediate sensate experience”, as Lewis puts it, as opposed to ultimate issues, which require a more sustained line of thought.
Lewis is exactly right in his exposure of Satan’s tactics. Some think that thinking a lot is dangerous to genuine faith. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is not deep thinking but shallow thinking that is a threat—not much thinking but wrong thinking. Reality screams the truth of God. So the devil desires to twist reality by numbing us with a steady stream of unconnected experiences. The effect is we skim across the surface of reality instead of digging in too deeply. His goal is to inoculate us from reality by focusing us on the moment-by-moment frenzy, a kind of missing the forest for all the trees. But true, deep and reflective thinking is a threat to the Kingdom of Evil.
Something to think about from “The Kingdom Perspective”.
Don’t waste your time on useless work, mere busywork, the barren pursuits of darkness. Expose these things for the sham they are. It’s a scandal when people waste their lives on things they must do in the darkness where no one will see. Rip the cover off those frauds and see how attractive they look in the light of Christ.
Wake up from your sleep,
Climb out of your coffins;
Christ will show you the light!So watch your step. Use your head. Make the most of every chance you get. These are desperate times! Don’t live carelessly, unthinkingly. Make sure you understand what the Master wants.
~The Message on Ephesians 5:11-17
