Passive Ones Are Weakened

I am currently reading The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. This masterpiece is in epistolary style; documenting a series of letters by a senior demon, Screwtape, addressed to his nephew, Wormwood, a junior "tempter". It's an insightful read that reveals Screwtape's advising of Wormwood's attempt to secure a British mans soul to hell. Whilst reading today, Screwtape stated in one of his letters:

"The man who truly and disinterestedly enjoys any one thing in the world, for its own sake, and without caring two-pence what other people say about it, is by that very fact fore-armed against some of our subtlest modes of attack. You should always try to make the patient abandon the people or food or books he really likes in favour of the 'best' people, the 'right' food, the 'important' books...It remains to consider how we can retrieve this disaster. the great thing is to prevent his doing anything. As long as he does not convert it into action, it does not matter how much he thinks about this new repentance. Let the little brute wallow in it. Let him, if he has any bent that way, write a book about it; that is often an excellent way of sterilising the seeds which the Enemy [God] plants in a human soul. Let him do anything but act. No amount of piety in his imagination and affections will harm us if we can keep it out of his will. As one of the humans has said, active habits are strengthened by repetition but passive ones are weakened. The more often he feels without acting, the less he will be able ever to act, and, in the long run, the less he will be able to feel," (Italics & bold added)
 
I had to stop and think about this when reading. "Let him do anything but act"; It's easy for me to identify deep desires and dreams that I have never acted upon. I believe that many people, Christ-followers or not, are blindly trapped  in imaginative feelings/desires upon which they fail to act upon. And again, I see how I often have fallen victim to the subtle trap. We are a rather passive generation; we submit ourselves to the 'best', 'right' and 'important' things that the world thrusts before us, remaining inactive in what we truly desire and were made for. That is, discovering our true being through Christ's redemptive gift. I don't know about you, but I know for myself that I am tired of a passive life. "The more often he feels without acting, the less he will be able ever to act, and, in the long run, the less he will be able to feel". I am tired of simply feeling. I think it's time to act in response to the feelings I have. Our feelings, particularly the deep desires of our souls, that are planted by God, are meant to be manifested through action. Feeling, absent from acting, will result in an individual who is confused and lost - eventually becoming unable to even recognize those "feelings" deep within. It's crippling and dangerous.

Jesus was active, he engaged in what he knew his Father loved. I challenge you as I challenge myself to engage in what our Father loves - activate yourself in His purposes; do His good works. I believe that when an individual does this, their feelings are in fact heightened, and God can take them to places they never knew possible. Don't passively go through life, there is nothing beneficial in that.    

Cheers,

Nick B.