How long is it good for us to live? That’s a strange question, I know. But, do you have an answer? C.S. Lewis had some thoughts on the subject that you may find provocative.
Aging is on my mind this week. I had never thought about myself becoming a septuagenarian – but this week I became one. Well, I still think of myself as being in my fifties, but that appears to be more common than one would guess. When I entered my fifties, I told my dad (then in his seventies) that “I still picture myself as being in my thirties.”
My dad responded without a moment’s thought: “That doesn’t surprise me at all. I still think of myself as being in my fifties.”
Many people become preoccupied with age. The only time I recall it mattering to me, was when I turned eighteen – able to vote, and registered for the draft (with Vietnam still a war zone) . . . and when I turned twenty-one, for reasons I prefer not to divulge at this time.
People are living longer, and I’m not convinced that translates into living better. Listen to C.S. Lewis, as he writes in his essay “Is Progress Possible?”
I care far more how humanity lives than how long. Progress, for me, means increasing goodness and happiness of individual lives. For the species, as for each man, mere longevity seems to me a contemptible ideal.
Lewis elaborates on this concept – that long life and happiness do not always intertwine – in the Screwtape Letters. The words which follow are the advice of a senior Tempter (devil) to a less experienced junior.
The truth is that the Enemy [i.e. the true God], having oddly destined these mere animals to life in His own eternal world, has guarded them pretty effectively from the danger of feeling at home anywhere else. That is why we must often wish long life to our patients; seventy years is not a day too much for the difficult task of unravelling their souls from Heaven and building up a firm attachment to the Earth.
While they are young we find them always shooting off at a tangent. Even if we contrive to keep them ignorant of explicit religion, the incalculable winds of fantasy and music and poetry . . . are always blowing our whole structure away. They will not apply themselves steadily to worldly advancement, prudent connections, and the policy of safety first.
So inveterate is their appetite for Heaven, that our best method, at this stage, of attaching them to Earth is to make them believe that Earth can be turned into Heaven at some future date by politics or eugenics or “science” or psychology or what not.
Real worldliness is a work of time. . . . How valuable time is to us may be gauged by the fact that the Enemy allows us so little of it. . . .
We are allowed to work only on a selected minority of the race, for what humans call a “normal life” is the exception. Apparently He wants some – but only a very few – of the human animals with which He is peopling Heaven to have had the experience of resisting us through an earthly life of sixty or seventy years. Well, there is our opportunity. The smaller it is, the better we must use it. (Letter XXVIII).
Sadly, far too many people grow far too attached to this world. They lose sight of the promise of Resurrection (if they had ever known it), and as death approaches crave just one more year, another month, another week, another day, even another hour.
Now, I’m not saying long life is a negative, per se. I agree with C.S. Lewis when he wrote “I must never, like the Stoics, say that death does not matter. Nothing is less Christian than that” (“The Grand Miracle”). The danger is not in enjoying the Lord’s wonderful creation. It is in growing too attached to this fallen version of it – in losing touch with the truth proclaimed by musician Larry Norman, that this sin-stained world is not our ultimate home.
Having been at the bedside of too many people as they face their mortality, I have witnessed many final days. Some literally go, trembling and cursing. Others depart with grim resignation, and no evidence of hope. And then there are those who die with faith, experiencing true peace and joyous anticipation, despite the pain they may be enduring.
I wish everyone could die in such a state, at peace and earnestly desiring to see the glory of God unblurred by our mortal eyes (1 Corinthians 13).
On that day we will enter into the fullness of life, into eternal life. (Dr. Michael Zeigler offers an encouraging sermon you can read or listen to at “The Problem and Promise of Deathbed Conversion.”)
The Screwtape Letters is one of C.S. Lewis’ most imitated books. I have even experimented with his model myself. But, rather than emulate these letters, today I would be so bold as to offer an addition to this demonic epistle.
My supplement is not intended for Christians, except as a truth they may wish to share with others who are walking through the valley of the shadow of death.
And never, my dear Wormwood, at the risk of your own torment, forget this one dire threat. Even after a long life, lived in hedonistic pleasure, deeply tethered to this decaying world, it is still possible for these wretches to be rescued from our claws.
The Enemy is so blindly compassionate that he will foolishly overlook a magnitude of savory sins sown during a carnal life. The dissolute lives we have toiled so steadfastly to soil with uncountable depravities and unrelenting selfishness, remain vulnerable until the patients’ final breath is exhaled.
The Gordian Knot we have so skillfully twisted can be undone in an instant, if they cry out to the Enemy for forgiveness. That is why we must remain vigilant to the very end. It is ideal to have them railing at the end against a God who has allowed them to suffer.
Yet it is sufficient that they die without that rage. A hopeless resignation to what they foolishly consider the end of their existence, still provides fodder for the insatiable appetite of Our Father Below quite adequately.
Final Encouragement
God’s mercy is beyond our ability to comprehend it. While there is breath, there remains hope. Even at the end of a squandered life, God’s love in Jesus Christ is sufficient to wash away every failing, and usher a penitent soul into the glory of everlasting life.
Remember that, if you find yourself feeling too defiled to come to Christ at the end, that is a lie of Satan. Every single one of us Christians was in similar straits – “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
And, should you ever have the experience of traveling beside a dying friend who sees only darkness ahead, share with them this gospel hope.
Mere Inkling Press 
Great read and very hopeful. I love the Screwtape Letters. It’s a fascinating book and all too prevalent today. The life here on earth is not eternal and I don’t think it ever will be, no matter what science comes up with. It’s good in a way, to look forward to death and the passing of one form of life into another. This world can be great but it’s also brutal. I hope the next place is far less cruel and filled with laughter and joy.
A realistic and uplifting write. Thanks Rob.
Precisely my goal. Thank you.
Surely ‘eternal life’ (lit. of God’s new age) (especially as taught in the 4th Gospel) begins for the believer NOW in this present painful world, to be consummated in Christ’s renewal of all things by his mighty power.
Amen. It is the present gift of God for his children.
I’m glad you enjoyed reading this, Parker.
I find it wonderfully freeing to have no fear of death.
Aside from the actual process of dying (e.g. physical and potentially mental suffering), I’m looking forward to finding myself in the immediate presence of God.
Thanks for a detailed article on aging. I have faced death too many times. I was once on the operating table during a harrowing Caesarian operation when my heart stopped three times. The third cardiac arrest was the best because I caught a glimpse of heaven, I felt myself like a shooting star flying in an incredible world, clean air, sunflowers littered mountains, clean and clear rivers and melodious voices of millions of angels.
when I came around, I was incredibly sad to be revived. My son went to be with the Lord two days later, but the experience has stayed with me. And heard similar stories of people, mostly born again Christians who experienced life after death. Death is never the end but a new beginning for believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, and for unbelievers as well. I’m glad to be on the Lord’s side because I can face whatever comes my way.
Seyi, what a wonderful, but tragic, testimony. I completely understand your reluctance to resume this life; I’ve heard the same sentiment from a number of lips. However, having received a foretaste of what awaits us is truly blessed.
I am sorry you lost your son so early in his life, but rejoice with you that he is with his Savior, whose love for him is perfect in every way. One of the “mysteries” of God that I’m most eager to understand is how these little ones who perished at a tender age, or even in the womb, will experience heaven.
I don’t believe their personhood will be limited by their physical immaturity. In a similar way, those limited by birth defects or other disabilities will be restored to a health and wholeness. The same God who created each of them is unquestionably capable of gracing them with their full potential.
It will most certainly be glorious.
An inspiring post, Rob, and one fitting for a newly embarked septuagenarian deeply conscious of his calling in Christ and deeply concerned that others may hear that call in their own hearts and lives. Thanks for the link to Dr. Michael Zeigler’s sermon. I’m a longtime listener of The Lutheran Hour thanks to you, and it’s good to re-visit this particular message as I hope many who read your post will do. How good is the LORD!
Dora, what a pleasant surprise to learn you have been blessed in the past by The Lutheran Hour. And thank you for the encouraging words.
I don’t recall having ever mentioned that Pastor Zeigler and I were friends long before he was ordained and earned his Ph.D. When I was the senior chaplain at Fairchild AFB, Michael was a young Air Force officer with an equally young family.
They already loved the Lord those many years ago, and the family has continued to serve Christ in a faithful and exemplary manner.
So good to hear that his ministry is reflected in his personal life as well. Praise God! Hope you have a wonderful Father’s Day!
Rob,
Aging stinks. But it happens. Hit 55 hard. Looking for hope through depression. Thank you for reminders this is not home.
Gary
Gary Avants Forbear Productions * *garyavants66@gmail.com garyavants66@gmail.com
I’ll be praying for you, Gary. Yes, the aging process, with the accompanying degeneration of these mortal bodies, and the increasing number of friends and loved ones to whom we say “goodbye” as the years pass by, cause us genuine pain and sorrow.
Not easy. Along with regrets and fears at night. Gary Avants Forbear Productions * *garyavants66@gmail.com garyavants66@gmail.com
Regrets are terrible, yet we all have them. Best solution I’ve arrived at is restitution — making right anything we can that’s related to the matter — and then praying that God would help us to look forward rather than behind us. As Jesus said, “go and sin no more.”
Not, of course, that everything we regret was sinful. But actions that cannot be changed, need to be somehow relinquished… or else they maintain a twisted power over the lives of even the redeemed.
Yes. It is. And does. Gary Avants Forbear Productions * *garyavants66@gmail.com garyavants66@gmail.com
I loved that “And never, dear Wormwood…” quote. Inspired! We are so preoccupied with fame, fortune, and appearance these days. Whenever I do go home to be w/ the Lord, I hope they can find more to put on my tombstone than my titles, my bank balance, and my weight.
At 64, I find it hard to put into perspective that I have outlived CS Lewis. And what have I done with my life? Not nearly as much as he!
That is an interesting observation, isn’t it, Kevin? That happens to be my mother’s age, and I recall thinking how strange it was to have “outlived” her.
As for comparing our accomplishments to those of C.S. Lewis… I could live a dozen lifetimes and not measure up.
The good news, of course, is that our Lord doesn’t compare us to others in that way. He gifts us differently, and I’ve come to think that his unique vocation for each person is never duplicated for another.
Simply living faithfully, in his grace, is sufficient.
Amen to that!
“Remember that, if you find yourself feeling too defiled to come to Christ at the end, that is a lie of Satan. Every single one of us Christians was in similar straits.” Amen, and well said, Rob.
I’m always saddened when people (mis)perceive Christians as self-righteous. Genuine disciples of Jesus all recognize that there, but by the grace of God, go we.
Satan certainly urges unbelievers to interpret the words and behavior of Christians wrongly. That’s one reason I love a t-shirt my has which simply says:
“I’m the wretch the song is about.”