Handing Over Your Whole Self

Speaking of the necessity for the control of our desires and independence, C. S. Lewis wrote:

"The terrible thing, the almost impossible thing, is to hand over your whole self--all your wishes and precautions--to Christ. But it is far easier than what we are all trying to do instead. For what we are trying to do is to remain what we call "ourselves," to keep personal happiness as our great aim in life, and yet at the same time be "good." We are all trying to let our mind and heart go their own way--centred on money or pleasure or ambition--and hoping, in spite of this, to behave honestly and chastely and humbly. And that is exactly what Christ warned us you could not do".

[C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: Macmillan, 1952), 168; book 4, chapter 8, paragraph 7]