You Have Never Talked With A Mere Mortal

I was listening to a talk recently when this C.S. Lewis quote came up: "You have never talked with a mere mortal."

Here's the sentence more in context from Lewis' book, the Weight of Glory:

There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations--these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit--immortal horrors or everlasting splendours.

Lewis' point is that the spiritual beings that inhabit the physical constructs that meet our eyes in the form of our neighbors and friends and enemies and the homeless man on the street are all destined for immortality. Those who follow Jesus have God within and will be glorified just as he was. Those who do not will be everlastingly separated from God.

Since that is so, we cannot treat another human as an object. It gives us a glimpse of the grandeur that God created that is available to all who choose Jesus. And it gives us a glimpse of the unfathomable loss when people do not.