Thomas à Kempis really sat me in my place this morning with what I read in The Imitation of Christ (compiled and edited in today's language by James N. Watkins).
Because grace and understanding are often lacking in us, we cannot place any confidence in ourselves. There is little light within us, and what we do have we quickly lose by negligence. Often, we don't recognize how great our inward blindness is. We often do wrong and, worse, excuse it. Sometimes we are moved by human passion and count it as godly zeal.
It's so bad, even the things I depend on and put trust in are untrustworthy.
Sadly, we will fall away from God if we set our value on any worldly thing. Let nothing be great, nothing high, nothing pleasing, nothing acceptable to us except for God himself or his works. Consider any comfort absolutely useless if it comes from a created thing.
* * * * * * *
Truth is...There have been many times when I have (dare I say we have?) thought that we could finally be happy, content, and secure if only we possessed this one thing more or just reached this one income level or experienced this one relationship or event. But things, money, and experiences are not a dependable source of joy, security, or contentment...and you can depend on that.
No comments:
Post a Comment