As The Ruin Falls....

Some time ago, I did a post on some lyrics in a Phil Keaggy song. The words "I never had a selfless thought since I was born" hit me so hard- not just because I knew them to be true in my own life, but because finally, there was somebody to whom I could relate.

While so many Christians today are proud of their 'devotion' to God, and their 'good works', which, by the way, they love to tell you (and anybody else who might be listening) about, I was struck by the honesty of these lyrics.

I thought to myself, "Well maybe it's just the writer of this song and me, but, in my own life, I know It's true. I think of myself first in every thing I do. I'm not happy about that- it grieves me deeply, but I cannot lie to myself about it, and neither could the writer.

At the time I posted these lyrics on this site a couple of years ago, I did not know who wrote them. I recently found out that Phil Keaggy took them from a poem written by none other than C.S. Lewis. He (Keaggy) composed a beautiful song with the title (and all the lyrics) completely intact. The song was superbly done. It is on his "Love Broke Through" album from 1976.

The song (poem), in its entirety, follows.......

" All this is flashy rhetoric about loving you. I never had a selfish thought since I was born. I am mercenary and self-seeking through and through: I want God, you, all friends, merely to serve my turn. Peace, re-assurance, pleasure, are the goals I seek, I cannot crawl one inch outside my proper skin: I talk of love--a scholar's parrot may talk Greek-- But, self-imprisoned, always end where I begin. Only that now you have taught me (but how late) my lack. I see the chasm. And everything you are was making My heart into a bridge by which I might get back From exile, and grow man. And now the bridge is breaking. For this I bless you as the ruin falls. The pains You give me are more precious than all other gains."

..... I urge any believer who has not heard this song to give it a listen. You will fall in love with it, and its honesty will disarm you. ..... God is fully aware of you and your deepest sins, thoughts, intents, passions, secret love for the things of this world- and yet we try to hide it all from God, and from other believers.

Man hasn't changed one bit from the Garden of Eden 'till this very hour. We're still looking to cover our own nakedness, aren't we? In this sense, we have let go of the Cross. We STILL refuse to believe that we are completely undone, that we were born that way, that nothing good that we do will ever make us acceptable to Almighty God! Why? Why will we not simply BELIEVE that as Christians, we are ALREADY accepted "In The BELOVED" (Ephesians 1:6)?

The Beloved is Christ. HE is God's remedy for our sins- all of them, yet we still want to think that now that we're Believers, we're such good people. So mature. So loving. So much better than the lost, and way better than most other Christians that we know! I can almost see our Savior turning to the Father, saying, " Don't they know that I died for them? That I rose from the dead for them? Don't they even realize that their righteousness has been imputed to them? Why are they so 'self-righteous' and smug? Why don't they seek my face in continual thanks and praise as do the angels?" .....

Precious ones, I believe that this is the number one reason that the Church is so weak, so wimpy, so contemptible! We need Christ, and we need Him from the rising of the sun to its setting, for HE is our very life! Until we see that- until we absolutely know that, we'll continue to hobble along completely impotent spiritually, all the while still feeling pretty good about ourselves. There is no new answer- God STILL longs, still waits to see us empty our hands of all of our self satisfaction and look only to Him as our source for Life...

Beloved, ponder these things deeply!

Jim Ewing