No Unimportant Person

It's been awhile since I've blogged.  In attempting to add another entry, I may find myself overly ambitious.  Lately, I've been reading C.S. Lewis, a true mastermind who had the incredible ability to make deep and perplexing matters seem logical and straight forward.  I was impacted by a thought of his recently.  Writing about it will not be a mindless task.

My good friend, whom I have now known for over 20 years, gave me The Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis for Christmas.  It is a compilation of short addresses that C.S. Lewis had given at various points in his life.  In perhaps his most famous address, "The Weight of Glory", Lewis speaks to the deep and unmet longings that all men experience in the fallen world and suggests how those longings point to the hope and reality of Heaven. 

Toward the end of the piece, Lewis talks about how believers ought to seriously consider the plight of the souls they interact with every day.  He says that though there may be danger of a believer dwelling too much on his own glorified life to come after death, "...it is hardly possible for him to think too often or too deeply about that of his neighbour" (Lewis, pg. 45, Harper Collins Publishers). 

In other words, every person whom we encounter is an eternal soul that is on a trajectory headed toward a glorious overflowing of life or a dreadful and unspeakable anguish of death upon the end of his/her temporal life.  Indeed, there are no unimportant or insignificant people.  Lewis begs his audience to remember that "the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you say it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare" (Lewis 45).

It is such strong language, but it conveys his point well.  As humans, we are drawn to apathy.  We struggle to keep the strong scent of urgency fresh on the nostrils of our spiritual senses.  It reminds me of Ephesians 5:16 which urges us to "make the most of every opportunity".  Apathy must be barred from my life and yours if we are to be effective ambassadors for the kingdom of God.

This theme is timely with the entrance of the New Year as well.  I've heard a few sermons of late that have reinforced this idea of seizing the day and recognizing the opportunities directly in our path.  As Toby Mac croons in his song "City on our Knees":  "If you gotta start somewhere, why not here?  If you gotta start sometime, why not now?"

My prayer for you and for me is that we will take note of even the most uninteresting person we meet.  Let us not lose sight of the most important mission God has given us on earth.  Let us be diligent fishers of men.