The World of Grandpa Don

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Let^'s Pretend
—from Mere Christianity
C. S. Lewis

I believe this excerpt from a book by the renowned British author and scholar gives us the roadmap to becoming true Christians in a nut shell. Try it, ... you'll like it.

"What do we do next? What difference does all this theology make? It can start making a difference tonight. If you are interested enough to have read thus far you are probably interested enough to make a shot at saying your prayers: and, whatever else you say, you will probably say the Lord's Prayer.

Its very first words are 'Our Father'. Do you now see what those words mean? They mean quite frankly, that you are putting yourself in the place of a son of God. To put it bluntly, you are dressing up as Christ. If you like, you are pretending. Because, of course, the moment you realise what the words mean, you realise that you are not a son of God. You are not a being like The Son of God, whose will and interests are at one with those of the Father: You are a bundle of self-centred fears, hopes, greeds, jealousies, and self-conceit, all doomed to death. So that, in a way, this dressing up as Christ is a piece of outrageous cheek. But the odd thing is that He has ordered us to do it.

Why? What is the good of pretending to be what you are not? Well, even on the human level, you know, there are two kinds of pretending. There is a bad kind, where the pretence is there instead of the real thing; as when a man pretends he is going to help you instead of really helping you. But there is also a good kind, where the pretence leads up to the real thing. When you are not feeling particularly friendly but know you ought to be, the best thing you can do, very often, is to put on a friendly manner and behave as if you were a nicer person than you actually are. And in a few minutes, as we have all noticed, you will be really feeling friendlier than you were."

And so, ... 
'Lets all try to be a little more kind than we need to be.'

It's a start ...
There is nothing wrong in pretending to be better than we are when it is done for the purpose of actually becoming better than we are. The bonus is that it may be contagious. As Lewis said, "He (God) has ordered us to do it."

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