The Letter of October 26, 1963

On October 26, 1963, C.S. Lewis (1898–1963) wrote a brief note to a young correspondent only weeks before his death at age 65. The line that has endured is plain and pastoral: “If you continue to love Jesus, nothing much can go wrong with you, and I hope you may always do so.” Coming from a man known for careful argument and literary skill, the sentence reads like a distilled creed: the safest ground is not brilliance, reputation, or comfort, but a steady, personal love for Christ.

The letter belongs to Lewis’s long habit of answering ordinary people—especially children—with seriousness and warmth. He did not treat youthful faith as a lesser thing, but as faith in its most direct form: trust.

Lewis’s Late-Life Context

Lewis wrote from England, after years shaped by public witness and private sorrow. His wartime broadcasts (later gathered as Mere Christianity) had helped many see that Christianity is not mere sentiment but truth. His stories, especially The Chronicles of Narnia, had offered moral clarity and spiritual imagination without mocking simple belief.

Yet by 1963 Lewis was physically diminished. He had buried his wife, Joy Davidman (d. 1960), and carried grief that did not cancel faith but tested it. He lived quietly at The Kilns in Headington, Oxford, supported by friends and his brother, W.H. Lewis. His final months showed a different kind of heroism: not the heroism of applause, but of endurance—continuing to pray, to write when able, and to point others to Jesus when his own strength was fading. He died on November 22, 1963.

Endurance by Loving Christ

Lewis’s counsel matches the Lord’s own words: “As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Remain in My love.” (John 15:9). Love for Jesus is not a vague feeling; it is a settled allegiance expressed in trust, repentance, obedience, and return—again and again—when the heart grows cold.

And when life does go wrong, as it often does, Christ does not let go. “For I am convinced that neither death nor life… nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38–39). Lewis’s last counsel to a child is therefore a sturdy hope for every believer: cling to Christ, and you are held.