Screwtape Letters Part 3

"Of course I know that the Enemy also wants to detach men from themselves, but in a different way. Remember always, that He really likes the little vermin, and sets an absurd value on the distinctness of every one of them. When He talks of their losing their selves, He only means abandoning the clamour of self-will; once they have done that, He really gives them back all their personality, and boasts (I am afraid, sincerely) that when they are wholly His they will be more themselves than ever. Hence, while He is delighted to see them sacrificing even their innocent wills to His, He hates to see them drifting away from their own nature for any other reason. And we should always encourage them to do so."

I pretty much need to hear that every day!


"As one of the humans said, active habits are strengthened by repetition, but passive ones are weakened. The more often he feels without acting, the less he will be able to ever act, and, in the long run, the less he will be able to feel."

Interesting. As many of you know, I don't like feelings. And some people (not to mention any names) keep telling me that feelings aren't bad. Apparently, they're right. God uses feelings to lead us to action, hopefully action that glorifies Him. I guess that means that I have to make sure that my feelings are glorifying to Him so my actions that result also are glorifying to Him. I'd rather just get rid of feelings altogether, mainly because I generally don't know what to do with them (seeing as I've lived 23 years basically without a whole lot of them). But in the last oh 7 months or so, I've felt a lot. My feeler friends have had to walk me through a range of feelings that I had and still have no clue what to do with, but I'll learn...someday...cuz it doesn't look like they're goin away anytime soon!