Screwtape Letters Essay

Lewis’ Screwtape Letters is an amusing and profound story of the world's temptation and a Christian's victory over it. In a collection of letters, an old demon, Screwtape, gives advice and guidance to his young and naive nephew, Wormwood, on how to lure his "patient" to Hell. Amateurishly attempting to tempt his patient to commit some great, extravagant sin, Wormwood lets his hand off the wheel and his patient becomes a Christian. Even in a seemingly hopeless situation, Screwtape kept his cool and advised Wormwood "to prevent his doing anything. As long as he does not convert it into action...Let him do anything but act. No amount of piety in his imagination and affections will harm us if we can keep it out of his will. As one of
the humans has said, active habits are strengthened by repetition but passive ones are weakened."(pg.66-67) Screwtape and Wormwood work to work to keep the patients' faith in a passive, lukewarm state and put out his fire for the Lord. They try to distract him with the ways of the world, but they are unable to put out his burning fire for the Lord. In an unexpected bombing, the patient slipped through Wormwood's hands and into the open arms of his Heavenly Father. Some ways Wormwood is instructed to tempt his patient is by keeping him either stuck in the past or hag-ridden with the future, creating doubt during the low or struggling times and distracted during the good times, and with love.

Although our minds are limited by time, we are created for eternity. In his attempts to draw his patient away from the Lord, Wormwood tried to fix his patient in the past or have him anxiously biting his nails for "tomorrow". Screwtape yearns to draw us away from thoughts of the present and eternity because, as he says, "He [God] would therefore have them continually concerned either with eternity (which means being concerned with Him) or with the Present-either meditating on their eternal union with, or separation from, Himself, or else obeying the present voice of conscience, bearing the present cross, receiving the present grace, giving thanks for the present pleasure." (pg. 75-76) Screwtape desires for us to be hag-ridden with the future. "Future is...the least like eternity. It is the most completely temporal part of time-for the Past is frozen and no longer flows, and the Present is all lit up with eternal rays." (pg. 76) The future can be quite frightening because we fear the unknown. It's unpredictable, but when we become hag-ridden with the future, we are no longer trusting that Christ is in control. Our Heavenly Father is not limited to time. Every millisecond of every day is seen by Him, and He alone knows what our future holds. He calls us to trust Him; to pick up our present cross, and follow Him today and trust Him with our tomorrow. But sometimes it takes a great shock like a sudden death, car accident, or terminal illness to make us realize our own mortality. In Ecclesiastes, Solomon says, “ It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart.” Why would it be better to go to a funeral than a feast? Because at a funeral, we are reminded of how temporal our life is and how tomorrow is never guaranteed. Every day, every hour, every second is a gift. We are called to bring God glory and let our lights shine for Him until we draw our final breath.

Throughout our life, we will go through many ups and downs, whether it's spiritually, physically, or emotionally or all at once.
There is temptation in both the troughs and the peaks of life, but our Father also uses them to draw us closer to Him. During our peaks, we feel great and can be tempted to forget our desperate need for God and become apathetic and think we have everything under control. However, during these great seasons, we are not to let our guard down. We are to stand firm and give thanks for today. But God uses the troughs more than He does the peaks. Screwtape explains, “It is during such trough periods, much more than during the peak periods, that it [a Christian] is growing into the sort of creature He wants it to be.” God uses our pain and struggles to draw us closer to Him. During these troughs, it is very easy to fall into a pit. Honestly, it can be comforting sometimes. But, as believers in Christ, we cannot allow ourselves to remain stuck. Yes, there will be times where we are depressed and go through times where it seems like the darkness kills the light and it takes every ounce of strength to get out of bed in the morning, but you are never alone. God has a plan for your life; He has a plan for my life. Now, it may not seem like that. It may seem like He doesn’t care…or maybe that He doesn’t even exist. But no matter how far you run, God still stays right there with you. No matter where you run, God is there. And you can never
escape His love. Like a Father with a wayward child, God will chase you. He will pursue you. His love for you is unlike anything you will ever fathom. He never gives us more than we can handle. Everything that He allows in our life is for a reason. We may not ever know what that reason is this side of Heaven, but God allows trials to come for our sanctification. Without Him, we will fail. Without Him, we will never make it. But, in Christ alone “we are more than conquerors” (Rom. 8:37). He will never leave you, and with His help, you will get through this. Sometimes, God brings us to rock bottom to show us He is the Rock at the bottom.

Love is a word that has been misused and abused by our movies, books, myths, and philosophies. We’re so used to defining it simply as a temporary bubbly, wonderful feeling that stays for a little while and then when it goes away we look for the next person who makes us feel that way. In his letters, Screwtape instructs Wormwood in their corrupted ways of “love”. “We have done this,” he says, “through the poets and novelists by persuading the humans that a curious, and usually short-lived, experience which they call ‘being in love’ is the only respectable ground for marriage; that marriage can, and ought to, render this excitement permanent; and that a marriage which does not do so is no longer binding.” C. S. Lewis addresses this faulty view of love in his spectacular book The Four Loves saying, “Eros, honored without recognition and obeyed unconditionally, becomes a demon…Eros by nature invites it. Of all the loves he is, at his height, most god-like; therefore most prone to demand our worship. Of himself, he always tends to turn ‘being in love’ into a sort of religion.”(pg. 110-111) We can idolize this “being in love” feeling and we long for its permanence. But by itself, love is, as Lewis says, “the most mortal of our loves” (pg. 113). Later on, he says, “the event of falling in love is of such nature that we are right to reject as intolerable the idea that it should be transitory…it has overleaped the massive wall of our selfhood” (pg. 114). Although the feeling of “being in love” is wonderful, it makes a pretty poor god. Love is fickle by itself. But love isn’t just an emotion. As Ravi Zacharias explains, “Love is as much an act of the will as it is the emotion, and if you will to love someone, you can.” Christ and His love for the church is our beautiful example of love. To truly love someone, we have to live like Christ. Love is dying to your hopes, dreams, and desires for the good of another. True Love is sacrifice.

By reading The Screwtape Letters, I have learned so much!
It has reminded me to let my light shine in today and trust God with my tomorrow. It has encouraged me to remain faithful during the difficult seasons of life. And it has shown me what true love is. With my dad having a terminal illness and rapidly declining, I have had a daily reminder of how precious the moment is, however, all the “what if’s” and fears of knowing he may not be here in a few weeks or for my 18th birthday or to do so many of the things I want to do with him can be nearly suffocating. But God’s grace is sufficient for today’s burdens. If I allow my mind to wander to the future, I will miss God’s plan for me right now, today; I will miss the opportunity to let my light shine for Him even through my pain. I have been through many ups and downs in my life. After a traumatic experience a few years ago, I’ve felt very trapped in my troughs with the scarce, brief relief of peaks. I’ve struggled a lot with feeling stuck behind a shadow. But I have come to realize that even in my troughs, God is holding me. I now know that on my own, I will not be able to make it through…I’ve tried…but everything that we will ever go through in our lives and every storm we will ever face is for our good. It is for our sanctification and to bring Him glory. I never really saw how anything good could ever come from my story…I couldn’t find a purpose for my pain, but even if I can’t see it now, God is weaving a
beautiful tapestry of my life and when I get to heaven I will see how every color and thread fit together. In your darkest times, God blankets you with His comfort and clothe you with His strength. When you feel vulnerable, He will hold you safely and securely in His arms. He can give you the love you long for. He can give you the strength to face today and peace for tomorrow. In your past, present, and future, He is there. So, don’t you worry, child, He has a plan for you.