C.S. Lewis quote from the Screwtape Letters-
"I know we have won many a soul through pleasure. All the same, it is His invention, not ours. He made the pleasures: all our research so far has not enabled us to produce one. All we can do is to encourage the humans to take the pleasures which our Enemy has produced, at times, or in ways, or in degrees, which He has forbidden. Hence we always try to work away from the natural condition of any pleasure to that in which it is least natural, least redolent of its Maker, and least pleasurable. An ever increasing craving for an ever diminishing pleasure is the formula. It is more certain; and it's better style. To get the man's soul and give him nothing in return—that is what really gladdens our Father's heart."
I can't believe it took me this long to quote the great C.S. Lewis. Probably the most quoted non Mormon by Mormons.
This quote is from a the evil Screwtape in regards to how to capture men's souls. I find it quite insightful into the process of losing our souls.
Its an interesting distinction between losing our souls and losing ourselves. The Lord calls for us to lose ourselves in the service of others. The Adversary whispers to us to lose our souls in the service of ourselves.
By pleasure, does the devil work. He lures us with the promise of it. We sin a little and feel instant pleasure and then we are in debt. The only one with a credit card to pay it is Jesus Christ. We have no way of accumulating any credit to pay for our own sins. Only He can remove the stain of sin. But, He will only remove it, if we promise to not sin again. Thats repentance.
The Satan has tricks to make us think that we are in control and happy, but they are just tricks. After the smoke is cleared we are left without a soul and in debt. The scriptures refer to it as being in the "gall of bitterness" or in the "chains" of the Devil.
The distinct between Christ again is a solid opposite of the Devil. We willfully choose to serve others and not ourselves. We chain ourselves to the will of God and we are free. We have our souls and lost ourselves. What I mean by having a soul is that we have all we need and then some.
Another illustration of how Satan works is when we choose evil we seek after all we want but end up being a slave to those things rather than a master. When following Satan, we are surrounded by a great deal of waste. Why? Because we sought happiness in that which cannot sustain or fulfill our souls.
The Lord knows what we need and by giving up our will for His, He will bless us with all we need and then some. Usually though we just need to suffer through the hard part and then realize all the Lord has done and all the blessings we have after converting to the Lord's will. Its a process of repentance that is hardly an easy feat for the mortal man.
Through the subjecting of ourselves to God, we gain through suffering. We have to kill the natural man within us and make the spirit conqueror. We rejoice in sacrifice for God's sake, as we know that the Lord is way to eternal life. No other way can one achieve the potential of the human. We have to unlock this potential through faith. He will remake in us something great and noble and eternal. Its a process of giving up the now, for the eternal. The Lord doesn't forget His promises. He will glorify Himself in us.
Satan seeks to mock God through destroying us. He seeks to cause pain to God through our disobedience and then will accuse us before God. The Savior will be our advocate and pay for our wrong doings. The Lord cannot deny Justice and we will be grieved for our sins unless we repent and turn to Christ to pay for our sins. Then we will receive mercy and the Savior will present us clean before the Father and He will say "Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord." -Matthew 25:21
