Letter 15: Past, Present, Future

Review:
  • Patient had turned back to God and cleaned up sin account.
  • Screwtape suggests making him proud about being humble.
  • How did you deal with pride last week?
Outline:
  • Anxiety has decreased because of a lull in the war (WW II)
  • Screwtape explains that God wants us to attend to 2 things:
    1. Eternity - this is not my home
    2. Present - present voice of conscience, present cross, present blessing, etc.
  • Demons' goal is to get us away from these.
  • Dwelling on the past is good in some circumstances, but looking towards the future is most often better.
  • God wants us to think about the Future just long enough to act in the present.
  • Focus our success or failure on what happens in the future.
  • Future focus can be anxiety or hope:
    • Anxiety - horrors lie in store for him, he must do something to avoid them (instead of relying on God)
    • Hope - everything is going to be fine, not because of God's promise
Terminology:
  • Avarice - excessive desire for wealth; greed.
  • Avert - to turn aside or away; to ward off.
  • Ambiguous - capable of being understood in more than one way; having multiple meanings, unclear which applies.
Questions/Discussions:
  1. What is the real war that Screwtape refers to in the first paragraph?
  2. Do you dwell on the past or the future?
  3. Are you working too hard for someone other than the Lord?
Scripture:

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