C. S. Lewis The Reluctant Convert, Part 2

The average human brain, while taking up only 2 percent of a person’s total weight, actually uses 20 percent of his total oxygen. That is a powerhouse little organ!

And C. S. Lewis was a mental gymnast. He continued his education at Oxford, became a published writer, and eventually earned a teaching position at his alma mater. But all throughout this time were the most interesting occurrences.

Lewis began to notice his propensity for authors who were notably Christian. He staunchly knew the books he was supposed to enjoy reading— books for hardened atheists, of course! But truth be told, those writings failed to hold his interest. On top of that, his choice of colleagues, the ones that he most esteemed and held most dear—quite a handful were Christians too! And if they were not, they were headed in that direction.

Perceiving what was happening, Lewis consequently proceeded to fight tooth and nail, as a petulant child with a toy or candy he does not want to relinquish. A great battle waged in his mind and in his heart: self or God. But as he read more and thought more and discussed into the wee hours of the morning with his friends, he, the consummate academic, was unable to reason out of the fact. After nearly two decades as an atheist, Lewis admitted that there was a God. A couple years later, he acceded that Jesus Christ was God incarnate.

No catastrophic event had taken place in his life, no miracle, no sudden death—except within himself. And that change began immediately. Lewis started praying again and reading the Bible. He started going to bed earlier in order to wake up for chapel the next morning. As he began to know God—the true God of the Bible and not one of his own imagining—he realized that what he had loved about those books and authors and friends was the resemblance to Christ’s character, the holiness, and the goodness.

Like the boy in the snow, he had, kicking and screaming, stepped into that pool of light and, wondering from whence it shone, had gazed upward into the lamp.

Reflect: What are your struggles with God that no one else sees? As “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood” (Ephesians 6:12), so do we have an infinitely more powerful Helper, the Holy Spirit.

Key Bible Texts

Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. (Isaiah 1:18 KJV)