the new men

I can't get this passage out of my head lately.  I am continually struck by the simple fact that in a room full of people, even a room full of believers, some are different.  Some stand out more than all the rest, but not because of anything they do.  Simply because of who (or whose, maybe) they are.  I've thought about this a lot this semester - how Enoch walked with God, so much so that he didn't even die, the Lord just took him up to Himself (Genesis 5:21-24).  Something about Enoch was different.

Leave it to C.S. Lewis to put into words perfectly that which I can never seem to:

        Already the new men are dotted here and there all over the earth.  Every now and then one meets them.  Their very voices and faces are different from ours; stronger, quieter, happier, more radiant.  They begin where most of us leave off.  They are, I say, recognizable; but you must know what to look for.  They will not be very like the idea of “religious people” which you have formed from your general reading.  They do not draw attention to themselves.  You tend to think that you are being kind to them when they are really being kind to you.  They love you more than other men do, but they need you less... 

        They will usually seem to have a lot of time: you will wonder where it comes from.  When you have recognized one of them, you will recognize the next one much more easily.  And I strongly suspect (but how should I know?) that they recognize one another immediately and infallibly, across every barrier or colour, sex, class, age, and even of creeds.  In that way, to become holy is rather like joining a secret society.  To put it at the very lowest, it must be great fun…  [C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, "The New Men"]

Read the rest here.

Thankful for the "new men" I have been blessed to encounter - several this weekend during my time in Jackson - and hoping to continually live a life that looks more and more like Mr. Lewis's description.  More and more like Enoch.  

More and more like Christ.