Don't you love the way this guy puts words together? An example to summarize the chapter:
For there are two things inside me, competing with the human self which I must try to become. They are the Animal self, and the Diabolical self. The Diabolical self is the worse of the two. That is why a cold, self-righteous prig who goes regularly to church maybe far nearer to hell than a prostitute. But, of course, it is better to be neither.
I would expect this chapter and my comments on it will be read by more of you than normal. I'm not offended. Few biblical subjects grab our attention more than this one. I'll let you ruminate on why that is.
The statements of the Bible regarding where "the fence" has been place are very clear. The boundary surrounds a man and a woman married until death. Maybe most of us have been able to stay physically inside the fence (If you have not, aren't you glad for a Rescuer with whom is forgiveness and the power to change?). I think Lewis is making a very important observation about human nature here. The question may be more than, "Are you staying inside the fence?" Maybe in the center of our being we are not satisfied with where God has placed the fence and we find ourselves constantly standing at the edge of the boundary rattling the fence and looking into the neighbor's yard (perhaps looking at a mutton chop).
The real issue, of course, is not sex but desire. What do you really want? Like the older brother of the prodigal son in Jesus’ parable, some of us in our "animal self" would never cross the lines outwardly, but our "diabolical self" wishes desperately that God had drawn the lines elsewhere. If your heart is saying, "If only I could go outside the fence and get away with it, I would satisfy an important need," you are the illustration Lewis is talking about in this chapter. When we think this way we are saying that God does not know what we really need. We are listening to the serpent's lie to Eve: "God knows that in the day you eat of it..."
This shows up in a lot of ways in our lives, not the least of which involves spending time and money on things that bring us to desire what is outside the fence ("want to watch a movie tonight?"). As Lewis says, “There are people who want to keep our sex instinct inflamed in order to make money out of us. Because, of course, a man with an obsession is a man who has very little sales-resistance."
Young, unmarried disciple of Christ, please listen: the only way to keep your vessel sanctified (see 1 Thessalonians 4) is to conform the desires of your heart to those of God's heart. Translation: learn to like what God likes. As David said in Psalm 16:6: “The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.”
What are your words of counsel for others reading this chapter and joining our discussion?
