i think this devotion raises the question regarding learning. When I was at school intelligence was related to how good you were at Maths. Relational or social abiility was seen as a side issue. Now that I am a parent (and a marriage partner) my ability to get an "A" in Maths pales into insignificance.
What kind of "intelligence" does the spiritual life invite us to discover and honour?
4 comments:
mission boy said:
(transfered from the St John's website...)
I'm not sure that he is saying "completely ignore education", but what he may be saying is that we ought to look at the 'type' of education we are giving ourselves, stupid things like is a good Christian education being able to recite all the books of the Bible in order, or is it knowing what some of those books say and being able to live as Christ in your daily life? In other words I think he is talking about not just knowing stuff for the sake of it, but knowing stuff that is valuable for my salvation and putting it into practice within my life to bring about real life changing Christ-centeredness.
thanks missionboy for commenting...
I'm interested in your thoughts on "what is valuable for salvation"...
what would you say is the knowledge that is valuable for salvation?
I have not delved into Thomas A Kempis for years and I find his thoughts refreshing- especially as I sat with some ladies at lunch who were feling so negative about things in the country, and yet these writings of Thomas were birthed in a very difficult time in history- I am so aware that Thomas is saying don't point fingers you don't know when you may fall!
Refreshing stuff....
John Bunyan in the Pilgrim Progress would have said that 'it's the moving to action that the process of salvation works in me' (my paraphrase), and I think Bunyan here was reflecting on the ideas of Paul when he wrote the ideas of 'if I have salvation, but no love, I have nothing' and since I read Bunyans words years ago, that has always meant actually engaging with what it means to have salvation and what that means for my daily life.
salvtion is nothing without love and love is empty without actions to nurture and grow it, not necessariy the obvious, moved by love to act in love towards others that you find in helping others in (often) a physical way, like feeding the hungry, but also something deeper, asking and attempting to answer what does salvation mean to me and how does that alter my perspective of myself and the people around me? does salvation really mean a thought out intentional introspection or is it just passing and I'll let the Holy Spirit do the rest?
so for me then when I say 'what is valuable for salvation', I am talking about not just a head knowledge of Christ and Dogma, but a heart struggle to align myself with the teachings, life and ministry of Christ and the ministry and journey Christ has called me to, to which only I am accountable to and can make happen and relavant in my own life.
So that's why things like being able to tell you that in Philippians 4:13 it says "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength" means nothing to me unless I actually know and work with the idea of Christ living in me and giving me strength for the difficult and easy times - and what that actually means, and how that actually works out in my life in a real and realvant way, and it has nothing to do with what the verses reference is and if I have memorised scripture and can quote it back to you all cocky and smart in conversation. The ability to grapple with who Christ is and what it means to follow Christ, that's what's valuable for salvation, not memorising stuff...
And I think Thomas A Kempis touched on that in yesterdays reading, look at the 'mean' self, don't bolster yourself too much by trying to be smart and memorise all this stuff to look good and showey "like a good Christian should" without it having an affect on who you are and how you relate to Christ, but rather wrestle with who you are (your mean-ness) and your relationship with Christ (Christs NON-mean-ness) and your salvation (the meeting of the two)... wrestle hard, because it's a struggle none of us come out of the same as we went in...
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