CS Lewis: God “wants people of a particular sort”

CS Lewis wrote: “We might think that God wanted simply obedience to a set of rules: whereas He really wants people of a particular sort.” (Mere Christianity, “The ‘Cardinal Virtues'” 63).

This was an eye opener for me. I began to see that the rules that govern human behavior, even the Ten Commandments, don’t necessarily contain all of what God intends for us. That’s why, “what God wants” is not as obvious as we might think. Only as we back off from our own plans and prognostications based on Bible reading, only as we abandon denominational views of what “should” happen, only then are we humble enough and yielding enough to let God determine the outcome, to become the “particular sort” of person that He wants us to be. … When our heart needs changing, and that’s usually what the need is, the Saviour will change it. For only God knows what He wants. Through His Son we become a person of His “particular sort,” which will happen without our advice or assistance or radical adherence. (from Driving into the Dawn, chapter 34)