Mere Christianity
Our church library has lots of books – and Mere Christianity would have to be one of my favourites, and one that I would recommend to absolutely anyone.
It’s the kind of book that you can read many times, and find something new each time – and it’s enduring success is evidenced by the fact that it is still in publication today, and remains one of the most popular books on Christianity.
A lot of people may be familiar with C S Lewis from his children’s series – The Chronicles of Narnia – the most well-known of which, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, many of us would have grown up reading.
Mere Christianity is adapted from a series of radio talks that C S Lewis gave in Britain during WW2 – to a nation looking for meaning and somewhere to put their faith in the midst of so much darkness and uncertainty in the world.
That message – of faith and belief – is just as relevant today.
It explores Christianity at its most simple – and profound – tackling deep concepts using straight-forward and beautiful examples that stay with you long after you finish reading.
“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of – throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”
~Mere Christianity – C.S. Lewis
What a beautiful image that is!
Psalm 51: 10-12
“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.”
