Mere Christianity

I just started reading this amazing book by the even more amazing C.S. Lewis and so far I could not be more enamoured by it. It's obviously totally different in writing style from the Planet Trilogy and even farther from the Narnia series. But so far, despite only being about eight chapters into it, I've found it so intriguing and it makes so much sense! My favorite part so far is his analogy of being a Christian to being in enemy-occupied territory. Lewis writes:

"Enemy-occupied territory-- that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign of sabotage. When you go to church you are really listening=in to the secret wireless from our friends: that is why the enemy is so anxious to prevent us from going. He does it by playing on our conceit and laziness and intellectual snobbery. I know someone will ask me, 'Do you really mean, at this time of day, to re-introduce our old friend the devil- hoofs and horns and all?' Well, what the time of day has to do with it I do not know. And I am not particular about the hoofs and horns. But in other respects my answer is 'Yes I do'. I do not claim to know anything about his personal appearance. If anybody really wants to know him better I would say to that person, 'Don't worry. If you really want to, you will. Whether you'll like it when you do is another question.'"

So often Christianity does seem like a battle. As a Christian, there are so many people against you- people like those who persecute, those who believe it other religions and want to put Christians in their place, and of course, the Devil and has ability to tempt us and try and pull us away from the right path. It's a daily fight to stay on the right path- all around us there are temptations, there are roadsigns that look so much more inviting and it's so easy in today's society to fall into pitfalls. We're fighting on enemy battleground but we have the best weapon on our side. First of all, if we don't survive out battle, we go to a paradise that is more wonderful than one hundred times the most beautiful place on earth. Additionally, we have the strongest soldier on our side. Even though the devil himself attempted to get to Jesus by taking him through the wilderness, the devil did not succeed. Jesus stood up to the devil, using scripture as his ammunition. We can use his example to give us support and ammunition as well. It is so good to know that with God's word in our heart, we can stand up to any enemy.

I know that I'm not far into Mere Christianity yet but I'm really excited to get more into it and see what awesome gems Mr. Lewis has to offer. I've always been a fan of Lewis and am so excited to be reading some of his deeper thoughts.