CS Lewis: Don't be an Ass or a Buffoon!

I read some C.S. Lewis paragraphs this morning that made me laugh out loud. This quote comes out of his book, "The 4 Loves" where he divides love into 4 categories: 1. Affection. 2 Friendship. 3 Eros. and 4 Charity.

Here's the passage:

“Man has held three views of his body. First there is that of those ascetic Pagans who called it the prison or the ‘tomb’ of the soul, and of Christians like Fisher to whom it was a ‘sack of dung’, food for worms, filthy, shameful, a source of nothing but temptation to bad men and humiliation to others.

“Then there are the Neo-Pagans (they seldom know Greek), the nudists and the sufferers from Dark Gods, to whom the body is glorious.

“But thirdly we have the view which St Francis expressed by calling his body ‘Brother Ass’. All three may be – I am not sure – defensible; but give me St Francis for my money.

Ass is exquisitely right because no one in his senses can either revere or hate a donkey. It is a useful, sturdy, lazy, obstinate, patient, lovable, and infuriating beast; deserving now the stick and now a carrot; both pathetically and absurdly beautiful. So the body. There's no living with it till we recognise the one of its functions in our lives is to play the part of buffoon."

C.S. Lewis had it right. Our body is flesh and we have to keep it under control. Our Bible Verse for this week at Broadway is Gal. 6:8, "For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life."

The battle is between our flesh and the Spirit!

Even Paul had a problem with the battle in Romans 7:15!

I don't know about you but, I don't want to be an Ass or a Buffoon. Let's not let the flesh win!