(upbeat music) - We are coming off of our national conference, which was dedicated to the life and legacy of C.S. Lewis, who died 50 years ago this fall. It was a great time, with a lot of helpful messages shared, and all of those messages are now online at desiringgod.org.

And one of the big themes of the conference centered on the imagination, and how faith and theology require the use of our imaginations. Pastor John, do you have any takeaways from the conference, or things you're thinking about post-conference, on the imagination? - Yeah, a lot was said in the conference on Lewis about the imagination.

What is it? And so on. One feature, it seems to me, of imagination, is the ability to see the value, or the wonder, or the glory of things for what they are. In other words, just see ordinary things for the wonder that they are. Which means that, in a sense, maybe that shouldn't be called imagination.

We usually think of imagination as thinking of ways of describing things that are different from what they are. And that's true. In fact, I made a case for that. But because of the fall, Clyde Kilby, my teacher of literature in college, he said one of the saddest effects of the fall is that we get tired of things.

So we go to the Alps, see 'em for the first time, we're stunned, speechless. We rent a little chalet at the foot of the Alps, and for three mornings we get up amazed, and the fourth morning we're watching television. And he says that's an effect of the fall that will be taken away.

Won't that be wonderful? In the age to come where we never get tired of anything. Which means that now we need powers of imagination, not just to think of things that are not, but to look at the things that are and see them for what they are. There's the fresh thought that I had.

Just looking at what is there and being amazed at what it is, not just thinking of things it's like that it's not. And this is what Lewis was so good at. He was described as having an omnivorous attentiveness, a phrase that I love so much. He was awake to the wonder of things.

He saw more in ordinary things than I do, and therefore when I listen to him or read him, I see more things. He lived with a kind of sensuous expectancy. I just thought of that phrase yesterday. That is, his senses, by sensuous I don't mean sensual, I mean sensuous, having to do with the senses.

His senses were expectant. Like if he saw a tree, he would see something fresh and new. If he saw a little slug inching its way along the sidewalk, leaving a silver trail, he'd see something new. He would have thought that, I think Lewis would have thought that boredom with the world is a sin.

It insults the glory of creation. So here's one example, and this is what made all this stuff pop in the last few hours. One great example is that Lewis stood in God-exalting awe of what it means to be human, just what it means to be human. And he helped me in many ways here rise above my petty complaints.

I tend to see a lot of people as frustrating and annoying, and that's just so lame. I mean, Lewis saw people as stunning. And here's the quote that blew me away and continues to blow me away. He said, "It is a serious thing to live in a society "of possible gods and goddesses, "to remember that the dullest "and most uninteresting person you talk to "may one day be a creature, "which if you saw it now, "you would be strongly tempted to worship, "or else a horror and a corruption "such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare.

"All day long, we are in some degree helping each other "to one of those two destinations. "There are no ordinary people. "You have never talked to a mere mortal. "Nations, cultures, arts, civilization, these are mortal, "and their life is to ours like the life of a gnat. "But it is immortals with whom we joke, work, "marry, snub, exploit, immortal horrors "or everlasting splendors." End of quote.

Now, that's just stunning. Who else sees things like that? Who in the world says nations, cultures, and arts, and civilizations, these are like a gnat to a human being? I just think that's incredible. I mean, when you read it, you say, "Well, yes, that's true, they do. "They come and go, and human beings never go.

"They live forever." And so he compares the two and say, "So which are you gonna be amazed at? "Political powers, and cultures, and arts, "and civilizations, or your neighbor?" I mean, that kind of thing is so revolutionary to your soul when you read it and you start looking at your wife, and your kids, and your neighbors, and everybody so differently.

So the effect this has had on me is to make me pretty serious about life and people. And when I say serious, I don't mean unhappy. "Joy is the serious business of heaven," Lewis said. The opposite of serious, serious is not sad. The opposite of serious is silly, and frivolous, and flippant, and trivial.

Lewis said, "We must play, but our merriment "must be of that kind," and it is, in fact, the merriest kind, he said, "which exists between people "who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously." No flippancy, no superiority, no presumption. So I came away from the conference, Tony, with things like that, more amazed that I'm alive, more amazed that I'm a human being in God's image, more amazed that I'm a sinner saved by grace, that I'm destined for eternal joys, and many of which I have tasted, and some scarcely tasted at all.

- Yes, that is amazing. Thank you, Pastor John. And thank you for listening to this podcast. Email your questions to us at askpastorjohn@desiringgod.org. You can visit us online at desiringgod.org to find thousands of books, and articles, sermons, and other resources from John Piper. And now you can find all of the National Conference audio and videos all free of charge.

I'm your host, Tony Reinke. Thanks for listening. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)