The Road to Hell

"Indeed the safest road to hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts." - C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

If you known me for any amount of time, it comes as no surprise that I think very highly of C.S. Lewis. I do have to admit that being fond of C.S. Lewis often seems like the popular intellectual Christian thing to do. I am not exception to that stereotype, but for good reason. He was a prolific writer and a intellectual giant. Although he was a literary genius, I am not writing this post about him (Maybe at a later date when I can not stand the temptation any longer). I wanted to just expound upon my favorite quote from one his great books The Screwtape Letters. As quoted above Screwtape, a demon, is writing to his nephew, a fellow demon, in encouragement to detour his assigned Christian. Now this quote is found about halfway through the book, but it hit me hard. Let me lay it in context for you. Screwtape is enlightening Wormwood on many different ways in which to trip up his assingment. It seems to reach it's apex in this very quote. Screwtape says that Murder is not better than cards if cards will do the trick. He is insisting that it doesn't take a "large" sin in order to condemn us to hell.

That's what I wanted to talk about in this post. The Road to Hell. C.S. Lewis is right. It is a gentle slope, that is soft underfoot and it does not have sudden turnings or signposts. That is separates us from God and how we are drawn away from Him. It is not the big events that tear us apart, it is the little things all along the way that slowly separate us.

So what do we do about it? We need to protect ourselves from this. Although it sounds cliche, a battle like this is daily. The only way in which we can continue to strengthen this relationship is to be diligent each and every day to seek God with our whole heart. It really is the little things that will lead us away from Him thus we must guard ourselves from them. Seek holiness in every aspect of your life.