For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. 2 Corinthians 8:9
“The real trouble about the set your patient is living in is that it is merely Christian. They all have individual interests, of course, but the bond remains mere Christianity. What we want, if men become Christians at all, is to keep them in the state of mind I call “Christianity and”. You know — Christianity and the Crisis, Christianity and the New Psychology, Christianity and the New Order, Christianity and Faith Healing, Christianity and Psychical Research, Christianity and Vegetarianism, Christianity and Spelling Reform. If they must be Christians let them at least be Christians with a difference. Substitute for the faith itself some Fashion with a Christian coloring. Work on their horror of the Same Old Thing.”
C.S. Lewis in The Screwtape Letters: Letters from a Senior to a Junior Devil (Samizdat University Press) 50. I decided to explore afresh a classic work whilst traveling. Such a great book. Better than a movie on an airplane.
Here Screwtape tells Wormwood that to urge the Christian to feel discontent with the gospel, he must dangle something in front of him to encourage him to add something to go along with it. In so doing, the little devil wins.
Lean into this with me because we tend to think that “Christianity and” represents a healthy faith. But does it? The person who advances “Christianity and” has started on the path of ineffectiveness.
To put it simply, we get distracted. Once distracted, we take a detour. Then we find ourselves so far off the path that we look like the world around us. I can say it because I have done it! We all have. It happens to all of us.
In a book I edited and compiled with Tim Macready, Purposeful Living: Financial Wisdom for All of Life, my friend Henry Kaestner wrote on the topic: What does it mean to be a Christian entrepreneur? (download the PDF of the book freely here)
Henry makes the point that if you see yourself as a Christian first, or in the words of Lewis, if your life is built on, “mere Christianity,” then your identity is fixed, you stay focused and you have impact.
But when you say, I am a “Christian and an entrepreneur” that word “and” appears again. And just like that, Screwtape and Wormwood have you struggling with your identity. Then they choke out your impact.
There’s nothing drab about Christianity. It’s the only thing worth living and dying for. Interestingly, last night I arrived at an undisclosed place in Central Asia where I am spending time this week with more than 500 people who risk their lives for their faith daily.
Don’t focus on generosity at this moment. Focus on Christ and how He gave up everything in heaven and then came to earth and gave His life so that you might taste it. That’s mere Christianity.
What drives me is not Christianity and generosity. It’s mere Christianity. As I have mined the writings of saints through the centuries daily for 15.75 years and counting, I have found a never-ending treasure trove of wisdom.
The best part is this. As I share what I find with others, I don’t end up depleted but rather enriched while enriching others. It’s the paradox of Christianity. It produces the fruit of generosity in and through us.
Now imagine how you might make mere Christianity known through your living, giving, serving, and loving. Right this minute, Screwtape and Wormwood don’t want you to imagine that.
Do it anyway. Christianity is not the same old thing. It’s the only thing worth living and dying for. And mere Christianity produces many fruits, one of which is generosity.