Got a Minute? A Vote Against Not For

Hi, friends in exile, got a minute?

C. S. Lewis was up for a promotion to full professor at Oxford University at one point in his teaching career. Sheldon Vanauken, author of A Severe Mercy, overheard two other professors talking about this faculty election as they walked down one of the lanes of the University campus. One of them said that he needed to make sure and vote, so he could vote against C. S. Lewis. He was not planning to vote for the other candidate, but rather against Lewis. Why? Because Lewis was a public embarrassment to the unbelieving faculty of Oxford University. Though a world-class scholar, he was an outspoken defender of the Christian faith. That was not fashionable at Oxford University during the 1940’s. What did Lewis do? He just kept being faithful to what God had called him to do and to be. He finally took a teaching job at Cambridge University, which granted him a full professorship. Perseverance. Faithfulness even in the face of opposition from those who wish not to believe. This is our calling when we live “by faith.” See Hebrews 11.

Smiley Mudd