“If you ask twenty good men today what they thought the highest of the virtues, nineteen of them would reply, Unselfishness. But if you asked any of the great Christians of old, he would have replied, Love. You see what has happened? A negative term has been substituted for a positive, and this is of more than philological importance. The negative ideal of Unselfishness carries with it the suggestion not primarily of securing good things for others, but of going without them ourselves, as if our abstinence and not their happiness was the important point. I do not think this is the Christian virtue of Love. The New Testament has lots to say about self-denial, but not self-denial as an end in itself. We are told to deny ourselves and to take up our crosses in order that we may follow Christ.”
C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1949/1965, page 1.
Related posts:
Pastor Note #134/Bible Note #55: Love of Jesus, Love of Neighbor
Pastor Note #110: Nothing But Love–A Sermon for the Installation of a Pastor, 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Pastor Note #73: No “Us” and “Them”: Race, Ethnicity, and the Mandate of Love
Bible Note #30: Making the World Good Again, through the Redeeming Love of Jesus (Mark 5:1-20)
Pastor Note #92: Living Out Love
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