Contented Worldliness
…how disastrous for us [demons] is the continual remembrance of death which war enforces. One of our best weapons, contented worldliness, is rendered useless. In wartime not even a human can believe that he is going to live forever.
– The Screwtape Letters | C.S. Lewis
It would seem that one of, if not the greatest, disruptions in pursuing holiness is the tragedy of war. Certainly war is tragic, and Lord knows the world has seen too much of it already. (I fear that we have not seen the last of it; Christ have mercy.) That said, Screwtape has a different take on what disrupt one’s pursuit of holiness: contented worldliness. And if our world has had too much of war, it (especially the Western world) has far greater problems when it comes to contented worldliness. In wartime, as Screwtape notes, not even a human can believe that he is going to live forever. By “live forever,” he refers to life in this world. Wartime makes clear that an end comes for us all. It is the staccato in a piece of music. The blast of seven trumpets. It is the exclamation point in a sentence. It is the lament of a mother for her Son.
The gristle of war stands in sharp relief to the creature comforts of an easy life. If ever there were an opium of the masses, contented worldliness just might be it. It lulls us to sleep, even the Church. And this is precisely what Screwtape (a fictitious character), and the Devil (who is very much real), desires. For, when we are contented with the world–indeed when we lay up our treasures here in earthen jars–we turn our eyes away from the Lord. We no longer follow the example of the maiden who looks to the hand of her mistress for provision. We look rather to our pleasant life and conclude life isn’t all that bad. And we ever so softly and slowly drift into a numbed existence.
The problem in all of this is that we are looking for contentment in all the wrong places. As all things of this world will eventually expire,–they will be rolled up like a garment and taken away–to look for contentment in the things of this world is to seek for satisfaction in things that are temporary. We place the weight of our souls on that which cannot possibly sustain us. The pursuit of holiness, when it comes to contentment, is to set our minds on things above, not on earthly things. (Col 3:2) It is to seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness. All else will be added unto us. (Mt 6:33) It is to seek the face of God. (Ps 27:8)
In all of this note that finding contentment in God and not the things of this world does not necessitate that one must become as poor as possible. It might be that you ought to give more of your material possessions away. But poverty of possessions does not necessarily equate to poverty of soul. Rather, when it comes to contentment, pursuing holiness means that the Lord is your first love.
The things of this world may be deemed good, but that is only because they come from our good God. They are meant not to replace, but to lead us to Him.