One of my favorite C.S. Lewis quotes is:

We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition, when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at sea. We are far too easily pleased.

We are far too easily pleased. We settle for mud pies when God offers infinite joy to us; He offers us Himself. When we settle for the mud pies, it is because we buy into the thinking of this age, the lies of the evil one. And when we do, we sin. This is why Paul tells us in Romans 12:2 to:

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (ESV)

Now the verse is really telling us to “stop being conformed to this age.” We are in an ongoing struggle to not allow the thinking of our age to trick us. We face an incessant onslaught of words, images, slogans, and commercials telling us that we cannot be happy unless we have…, unless we do…, unless we try… You get the picture because you live in this world as well as I do.

Now one of the great lies of our age is Individualism. We live in a time and place that values the individual almost above everything else. It is all about “me.” Our society promotes self-fulfillment, self-gratification, self-help (shall I go on) over giving and serving others. We have to make sure that our needs are taken care of. So we stand alone, we don’t open up, don’t trust, don’t make ourselves vulnerable because the risk of being hurt it too great.

Because we have been raised in this thinking, we bring it into the Church. And the American Church has bought into to it as well, offering a cafeteria Christianity to people, so we can all have the church that best suits us and our needs. Or we somehow think that we can live the Christian life without the Church. That I can go alone, with just the “God and me” approach.

What God wants us to do is renew our minds with Truth. As Jesus told us, it is truth that sets us free (John 8:32). When we are renewed with the Truth of His goodness, His love, His care, His sovereignty, then we don’t settle for mud pies. Let us encourage one another in this. Because we need each other. In fact, this is a Truth that is most vital for us to believe that runs contrary to the rampant Individualism of our age. The Truth that when we are born again, we are born into a family of other people. We are individuals but members one of another (Romans 12:5).

I’ll finish with a quote from the late Henri Nouwen. He was a Roman Catholic priest and he wrote these words a couple of decades ago.

Listen to the church. I know that that isn’t a popular bit of advice at a time and in a country where the church is frequently seen more as an obstacle in the way rather that as the way to Jesus. Nevertheless, I’m profoundly convinced that the greatest spiritual danger for our times is the separation of Jesus from the church.

The church is the body of the Lord. Without Jesus there can be no church; and without the church we cannot stay united with Jesus. I’ve yet to meet anyone who has come closer to Jesus by forsaking the church. To listen to the church is to listen to the Lord of the church. Specifically, this means taking part in the church’s liturgical life…The Eucharist is the heart of the church’s life.

Shane+