C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity: Analysis and Application Part XIV, Lewis on false hope

Let us return to the Basics of the Christian Faith. The Psalmist teaches us that the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him and hope in His steadfast love.[1] Yet this clear reality is overshadowed by our naïve thought that love could be found elsewhere. We find ourselves making idols, substituting God for our vain imagination. We desire the new, the most complete, the technologically advanced, and the best the world has to offer us.

Those who hope on these things find themselves craving for them again and again, and never able to hope for that which is True, Beautiful, Unchangeable, and All-Loving. Returning to the Basics of the Christian faith entails hoping in God alone and what He offers. But the way of the fool as the Proverb contrasts is the way to destruction. As Lewis states:

He puts the blame on the things themselves. He goes on his life thinking that if he just found the right woman, stayed at a more expensive hotel, he would be happier. He is looking for “the Real Thing.”[2]

This real thing is just a contrivance from the devil himself who seeks to devour. This real thing is sometimes mixed with that which is pure, but it must never be seen as pure. If man hopes in any such thing, he has deceived himself and the truth does not abide in him.

[1] Psalm 33:18

[2] Mere Christianity, pg. 120.