PiPER ON LEWiS

Here, our good buddy John Piper retells the story of God calling him to be a pastor. He begins in good ol Greenville, SC. He also discusses several of the biggest influences on his life. About CS Lewis' influence on him, he says

He has made me wary of chronological snobbery. That is, he has shown me that “newness” is no virtue and “oldness” is no fault.  Truth and beauty and goodness are not determined by when they exist.  Nothing is inferior for being old, and nothing is valuable for being modern. This has freed me from the tyranny of novelty.

C. S. LEWiS [quote of the day]

A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word 'darkness' on the walls of his cell.

why do feel so much smarter?

Because I just bought a pipe for $2 at a thrift store. And it was made in Italy! It reminds me of an old CS Lewis quote:

I believe that many who find that “nothing happens” when they sit down, or kneel down, to a book of devotion, would find that the heart sings unbidden while they are working their way through a tough bit of theology with a pipe in their teeth and a pencil in their hand.

CLiVE STAPLES QUOTES OF THE DAY

"If you can't communicate something in a way anyone can understand, either you don't understand it or you don't believe it."

"He that but looketh on a plate of ham and eggs to lust after it hath already committed breakfast with it in his heart."

"Course he isn't safe, " the Beaver replies. "But he's good."

study

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth [2 tim 2.15].

In the intro of Athanasius’ De Incarnatione, C. S. Lewis compares books of devotion and books of doctrine:

Now the layman or amateur needs to be instructed as well as to be exhorted. In this age his need for knowledge is particularly pressing... For my own part I tend to find the doctrinal books often more helpful in devotion than the devotional books, and I rather suspect that the same experience may await many others. I believe that many who find that “nothing happens” when they sit down, or kneel down, to a book of devotion, would find that the heart sings unbidden while they are working their way through a tough bit of theology with a pipe in their teeth and a pencil in their hand.

So Ezra set his mind to study the law of the Lord and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel [ezra 7.10].

The venerable dead are waiting in my library to entertain me and relieve me from the nonsense of surviving mortals [Samuel Davies, 1723-1761].

When you come bring the cloak which I let at Troas with Carpus, and the books, especially the parchments [2 tim 4.13].

Spurgeon preached on the this text in 1863:

How rebuked are they by the apostle! He is inspired, and yet he wants books! He has been preaching at least for thirty years, and yet he wants books! He had seen the Lord, and yet he wants books! He had had a wider experience than most men, and yet he wants books! He had been caught up into the third heaven, and had heard things which it was unlawful for a men to utter, yet he wants books! He had written the major part of the New Testament, and yet he wants books!

We are quite persuaded that the very best way for you to be spending your leisure, is to be either reading or praying. You may get much instruction from books which afterwards you may use as a true weapon in your Lord and Master's service. Paul cries, "Bring the books"—join in the cry.

Chapter One

And as He spoke He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.