This is a scriptural meditation from the Russian book, “Day by Day”. Lewis connection follows:
"Scripture: “See, His reward is with Him, and his recompense accompanies Him” (Is: 40, 10)
"Meditation:
"The same word is repeated by St. John in his Revelation, when he heard from the Lord Himself: “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will compensate everyone according to what he has done” (Rev: 22, 12).
"This promise of the Lord is a reply to those who are misled by the seeming injustices of fate on earth, where so often evil is crowned with feigned success and is seemingly victorious over good.
"But we know that the Lord will come, “and His reward is with Him”, and we have even better promises. Let us leave to the Lord the recompense for everyone’s deeds. Already here on earth He often gives the foretaste of it. If we could penetrate into the secret places of the consciences of our fellow human beings, we would become convinced that the Lord truly gives recompense to everyone for their deeds.
"At the very moment when we apparently blithely surrender to the “pleasures of sin” (Heb: 11, 25), an indeterminate and anguished longing stirs in the depth of our heart and gives us the feeling of the inevitable punishment of God for our deeds. This is the Lord approaching, and “His recompense accompanies Him”.
"And here on earth, the Lord sometimes gives a foretaste of eternal bliss, and gives it freely, without accepting anything from us in return, and just as freely, not because of our merits, He will lead us into the Kingdom of Heaven.
"Serving the Lord already brings its own reward because in serving Him we find the Lord Himself.
"Let the meaning of the words said by the Father to the elder son in the Gospel parable be more comprehensible to us than to him: “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours” (Luke: 15, 31), for his reward was great: is it not the greatest bliss to always be with Him?
“St. Paul says: “The Lord rewards those who seek Him” (Heb: 11, 6). Yes, the Lord gives Himself to those who find Him, “His reward is with Him”, since He Himself is our greatest reward.”
The main Lewis connection that comes to mind is the reward those who are good, or want to be good, feel just from being in the presence of Aslan.
Dimitry
“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Love will last forever.” (1 Corinthians 13: 4-8)