I guess as parents we all want to provide our children with something, either when they grow up or when we “go”. We were reading Proverbs 14 last night and I told kiddo I would rather leave her a fear for God than anything else (or above everything else). With a fear for God she would have peace and joy no amount wealth or education can give her. Then this morning I recalled CS Lewis’s take on why Jesus did what He did.

 

God created life. He is the source of it. When we reject God therefore, we reject not just the church or the bible or any set of rules and regulations; we reject the source of life. When we so reject, we head death’s way by default. We need therefore to be hauled the other way. We can’t however haul ourselves because we have rejected the source of life. We need someone who hasn’t rejected that source (read: has not sinned), to so haul us back into life. We need someone perfect. Only God is, and His Son. God or His Son somehow needs to jump in, be part of us and haul us back. That means God or His Son has to be part of this death path.

 

Problem is: if God is life, He can’t die. God doesn’t die. If He does, He can’t be God. So God had to become man. Just so He can die. His death however, lasted just 3 days. He rose again, so that we too can rise with Him. We then head the other way, back to the source of Life, God. That in a nutshell is the gospel. Still doesn’t quite click, does it. I mean why must He die to haul us back into life? Hmmm… the answer is there, but how do I arrange the blocks in my head so that they make a neat pile? Gotta read CS Lewis for more clues (on how to arrange these blocks)…