Shadowlands

Three days ago on November 22nd was the 45th anniversary of the death of Clive Staples Lewis. C.S. Lewis, or Jack as he was known by his friends was probably the greatest Christian writer and thinker in the last 200 years. He was born in Belfast, Ireland in 1898 and he died on November 22nd, 1963. If that date sounds familiar to you it is because the President of the United States, John F. Kennedy was asassinated on that day as well. This picture is of Jack's grave that can be found at Holy Trinity Church in Headington, just outside of Oxford, England. 

In 2005 I got to visit Oxford for the day with my beautiful wife Jeana and it was a typical cold March day in England and it was one of the greatest days of my life because C.S. Lewis is my favorite writer and thinker of all time. His work, Mere Christianity, has made such a profound impact in my life that the Bible is the only book that tops it to me. 

Lewis believed that if all you did on Earth was look to this life then all you get is this life but if you aim at Heaven, you get Earth thrown in. He had a word that he used to describe the life that we live now in eager anticipation for the life of Heaven with Christ. He called it the Shadowlands. 

Where are your eyes today? Are they only looking at your circumstances or your suffering right now? Are they looking only in the past where you failed and you cannot change? I know that even as I write this I am convicted to live more with the idea that my life now is just a shadow of what is to come when Jesus comes and restores all things and makes all things new. 

In a week that we as a country stop for a day and give thanks, let us not just give thanks for what we can see, but for what we cannot see. Let us give thanks for Jesus Christ who humbled himself and became nothing so he could exalt us to the highest place with God. Philippians 2 is excellent table reading before eating the turkey or ham so be thankful that we live today but rejoice in the day that is not yet here but full of joy!

Matt