Gospel of John: The Inner Ring

"In every single human interaction, you have a choice.  Which way will you go?   C.S. Lewis incisively saw that most of us, most of the time, make the choices we do so we can be approved of by the right people while distancing ourselves from the wrong people.  He spoke of our desire to be part of “the inner ring,” a desire that dominates our lives.   Jesus was not interested in getting into an exclusive circle of the right people.  Instead, he deliberately reached out to the wrong people.   To cite one example, consider Jesus’s interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well.   Preacher: Andrew Forrest Scripture: John 4:1-42   Quotation:  “My main purpose in this address is simply to convince you that this desire is one of the great permanent mainsprings of human action. It is one of the factors which go to make up the world as we know it—this whole pell-mell of struggle, competition, confusion, graft, disappointment and advertisement, and if it is one of the permanent mainsprings then you may be quite sure of this. Unless you take measures to prevent it, this desire is going to be one of the chief motives of your life, from the first day on which you enter your profession until the day when you are too old to care. That will be the natural thing—the life that will come to you of its own accord. Any other kind of life, if you lead it, will be the result of conscious and continuous effort.”     from “The Inner Ring,” by C.S. Lewis [1944]]   entire essay here: https://www.lewissociety.org/innerring/