In perhaps his finest sermon, C.S. Lewis orates on "The Weight of Glory." Lewis brings up many elaborate points, to the point where if I were to talk about them all, I would probably end up making a sermon of mine own. Instead, I would like to discuss some of my favorite quotes, the ones that stuck out to me the most.
The first quote I liked, as did much of the class I would imagine, was the following, "We are half-hearted creatures...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 the sea." This is a great point that Lewis makes and later expounds upon. As Christians, we are perfectly content to get pleasure from many droll things: watching our favorite sports team, enjoying time at the beach, or walking through the woods. All of these things are good; gifts given to us by God for our enjoyment, and things we should and do enjoy. However, the greatness of these joys pales in comparison to the beauty and joy of heaven. It is incomprehensible, as Lewis notes. We can not imagine heaven, as human words cannot describe it. Human words only can describe something that is imaginable, in the physical. Heaven transcends these things. So we will keep making mud pies, unable to imagine or realize that there is a beautiful sandy beach, with sparkling water just a short trip away.
Another beautiful quote that Lewis uses is this, "When all the suns and nebulae have passed away, each one of you will still be alive. Nature is only the image, the symbol; but it is the symbol Scripture invites us to use." This quote piggy-backs off the first one, in that it uses nature and incomprehensibility to define the gap between heaven and earth. To me it underlines the total depravity that is the human race, we are so far from being in the glory of the Lord, without his grace we will never realize it. However, God is good and gracious and he gives us symbols of his care and love. Just as the rainbow pointed out God's love to Noah, the beauty of nature leaps out at us, pointing us to the awesomeness of God, and the awesomeness of being in his presence, once in heaven. Certainly, beautiful words by C.S. Lewis, making us think of many glorious things that are to be.
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I like the second quote you mentioned about how humans cannot comprehend the gap between heaven and earth. In my blog I talked about a similar topic, about how heaven is outside our experience. We cannot experience heaven on earth, but as children of God we can attempt to bring a little of heaven here to earth. God calls us to do so and as stewards of his creation, we should uphold his beautiful creation and revel in its awesomeness as you say.
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