Here's one of my prized possessions, I've been listening to in the car again. The only published recording of CS Lewis I know of, giving lectures on "The 4 Loves." Great stuff. He speaks in quite the monotone, and way too fast for the depth of the material to sink in!
On agape, he notes that when it comes to receiving love, agape is different from the other 3 natural laws. While we want the first 3 (storge - natural affections; philia - brotherly and friendship; eros - erotic), we usually don't want to receive agape. We're too prideful to receive a love that doesn't depend in some way on us. Lewis says: "Our necessities and our desires are in conflict."
Hmmm. Imagine that. Our felt needs (desires) and our actual needs aren't always the same. A basic concern I have is that when the church gets in the business of meeting felt needs by playing the bait and switch with people (draw them in with this, then give them what they really need), then people can get the wrong message (it justifies the felt need as the real issue), and the church can be attracted to the glamour of the outward activity going on, when the real, non-glamorous, spiritual advance is happening underneath or elsewhere.
Anyway, get this great resource here!
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