Wisdom of C.S. Lewis

The following poem was written by C.S. Lewis, and is quoted in the book "Between Heaven and Hell" by Peter Kreeft:

"From all my lame defeats and oh! much more
From all the victories that I seemed to score;
From cleverness shot forth on Thy behalf
At which, while angels weep, the audience laugh;
From all my proofs give no sign, deliver me.

Thoughts are but coins. Let me not trust, instead 
Of Thee, their thin-worn image of Thy head.
From all my thoughts, even from my thoughts of Thee,
O thou fair Silence, fall, and set me free.
Lord of the narrow gate and the needle's eye,
Take from me all my trumpery lest I die."

Lewis is essentially asking God to deliver him from this world and from himself. The idea of asking to be delivered from oneself and all of one's own actions is one of absolute selflessness. For a person to make this request, he must have reached the realization that he can never be good enough, and thus become filled with the overwhelming desire to let go of everything and hand it over to God. That state of selflessness and Christ-likeness is one that all believers should strive for.


"Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?" - Matthew 16:24-26