Christ Quote by C.S. Lewis
““There are no real personalities apart from God. Until you have given up your self to Him you will not have a real self. Sameness is to be found most among the most 'natural' men, not among those who surrender to Christ. How monotonously alike all the great tyrants and conquerers have been; how gloriously different are the saints. But there must be a real giving up of the self. You must throw it away 'blindly' so to speak. Christ will indeed give you a real personality; but you must not go to Him for the sake of that. As long as your own personality is what you are bothering about you are not going to Him at all. The very first step is to try to forget about the self altogether. Your real, new self (which is Christ's and also yours, and yours just because it is His) will not come as long as you are looking for it. It will come when you are looking for Him...Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ, and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.””
About This Quote
Source Book: The Screwtape Letters, 1942
True identity is found only by surrendering self to Christ; self‑centeredness yields emptiness, while Christ‑centeredness brings genuine personality.
In simple terms: Giving up self to Christ creates a true self.
Seek Christ, not personal ego.
Themes
Mood
Type
When to use this quote
- prayer
- service
- counseling
- community involvement
- personal reflection
Key Concepts
Questions to Reflect On
- What does “real self” mean to you?
- How can you balance personal identity with spiritual surrender?
The call to self‑denial can be misunderstood as loss of individuality.