Screwtape Letters, 12th Letter

I think that Lewis gives us some great insights on the workings of the devil in his book, The Screwtape Letters. This letter is about how the devil slowly pushes us away from God. He does this by introducing us to bad habits which, by themselves, don't seem like that much of a problem. However, he uses these habits to make us feel guilty and want to avoid God. He does not want to push us too hard, or we will realize that there is a real problem, and we will turn to God for help. By keeping the temptations gradual, we feel a tinge of guilt whenever we start to think about our spiritual condition, which causes to want to avoid thinking about it. Through this kind of temptation, the devil can begin to separate us from God without us even realizing it.

I think that Lewis raises some good points about a kind of temptation that I have seen many times. Lots of people, while they call themselves Christians, fall into bad habits and begin to lose sight of their spiritual state. Christianity becomes more of a ritual as they go to church and pray without putting in much thought at all about what they are doing. They think they are still doing fine because they are doing these things, but they are actually drifting. I have felt this kind of temptation as well. It is all too easy to act Christian in front of Christians, but to let it slide in order to fit in with the people around you.

The best way to fight this kind of temptation is to be honest with yourself and with God. If you are experiencing some problems in your faith, you need to bring them to God and to ask Him for help and forgiveness rather than avoiding Him. It is when you ignore God that you become separated from him. That is why we need to focus on God and our spiritual life even when we do something that we feel guilty about.