Devotion 40 - a measure of truth

the biblical measure of truth, as Thomas strongly affirms, has less to do with words and concepts and more to do with what we do and how we live.

knowledge is of limited value. The challenge is to translate knowledge into something valuable for people in their everyday lives. Science has in many cases made discoveries that benefit ordinary people in their everyday life. There may also be some things that science has done or contributed to that are not proud or worthy of praise.

Academic Theology has also given much that is beneficial to the church. But just like science it has accepted some assumptions and adopted many attitudes which has left it systematically disjointed from the church - the local community of faith that every work in theology should seek to serve.

One of the dangerous assumptions that both science and theology have played with is the idea that truth is something that can be KNOWN - in a person's head. i.e. that truth is conceptual.

Wisdom knows that disembodied "truth" is no truth at all. Any claim to truth is most likely pompous arrogance. Truth is lived out - embodied in a life and a lifestyle, a set of choices and attitudes made real in a person' life. There is no need to claim truth - the truth will speak quite clearly for itself!

Devotion 38 - discourse on love

this is my least favourite of all the devotions from Thomas. It's so easy to think of all the perfect and wonderful qualities and then list them in sentences starting with the words "Love is..."

so what? what difference does that make? Love is many wonderful things, but in the end it has to be experienced.

So, here is my contribution to the "Love is..." list:

Love gets it's hands dirty with the realities of life. Self-righteous religion presents a cautious, measured, "correct" position that distances itself from the messiness and troubles of sin-sick people.

Love get's up after a shocking night of sleeplessness, because of restless children, and then does what needs to be done to feed them and get them off to school.

Love sticks by people when many others ahve given up on them!

it's not pretty. but then, that's love for you!!!

Devotion 37 - Speak Lord...

There's this little idea that crept into my mind through a sunday school teacher or some other person during my childhood years. "If anyone sees GOd they will die". It comes from some Old Testament story - even though there are a few stories which contradict this concept - Moses encounters God on Sinai, Jacob wrestles with God on the banks of the Jabbok river...

somehow these little ideas take root like seeds and prevent other, perhaps more helpful, ideas from finding a place in the spectrum of talk about God...

If I had to choose between telling my child that seeing God will kill you, or seeing (encountering) God will bring you life, it wouldn't be hard to decide which one I would prefer!

Seeking an honest encounter with God may be scary, but not because the encounter with God is dangerous to our health. It will be scary because the truth about ourselves is scary - even daunting. But if there's anyone who can (gently) help us through the scary process of acknowledging the truth, it's the One who already knows about the skeletons in the closet...

...and says he loves us!

Devotion 33 - tough love

So it seems that Thomas knew about "tough love" more than 500 years ago... He says that love (charity) sometimes acts, and sometimes it doesn't.

The key according to today's devotion is a person's intention. Also a few hundred years before modern psychology, Thomas is able to identify the troubling role of the ego ("...a persons own inclination...") in determining and shaping our attitides and actions.

I agree that loving is not only acting and giving all the time. Love demands that we want what is best for the other...

sometimes that isn't another helping!

Devotion 32 - wise counsel

I try to meet with older, wiser people on a regular basis. I have lunch with one or two retired people every month or so to keep me connected with that stream of wisdom that doesn't often come from colleagues who are close to you, or buried in the same circumstances as you are.

More recently I approached a member of my community to meet me on a weekly basis for "devotional conversation" - conversation with a particular focus on my devotional and prayer life - essentially, my relationship with God.

It's been a good experience.

I think Thomas is offering rich advice in this devotion today!



Download Devotions 33-40 (in pdf format) here

Devotion 31 - Eagerness

Thomas surprised me with this thought: "use a little restraint even in good desires and inclinations..." it seems he's saying too much of a good thing can be a bad thing.

Too much eagerness can lead to a hasty, unwise decision. In the same way, too much caution could lead to indecision and difficulty in making important decisions.

A church without passion will certainly die but perhaps too much passion could be harmful in ways we aren't even aware of ...

I think that people who are addicted to things sometimes don't sort out their addiction, they just change the focus of their addiction. Moving from one excess to another fails to deal with the core problem...

so, restraint...

Devotion 27 - self-love and loving yourself

I think the "self-love" that Thomas is talking about would be better understood as "attachment to the self". In a real sense we are setting ourselves up for pain by becoming overly attached to our life, our possessions, our career - even our own bodies. These things will all pass away...

Loving yourself, as in caring, tenderness and attentiveness - is a key to truly loving others. I think many of us will struggle to really love others (without agenda) until we have learned to love ourselves.

Real love does not attach, cling or seek to control. I think we often "love" people in the same way we "love" ourselves... with great attachment - which makes freedom in life and relationship difficult to find!

Devotion 25 - Taking the lowest place

Thomas advises, in today's devotion, that we

"Always take the lowest place and the highest will be given you, for the highest cannot exist apart from the lowest."

I think the "highest place" is not a place of honour and recognition... as if taking a humble place will be rewarded with the opposite. Then the spiritual life would be reduced to simple sacrifice that leads to a payoff in the end. So anyone wanting to be great will give up greatness for a time so that they can get WHAT THEY WANT in the end.

The "highest place" is a mystery to those of us seeking highness - until we see life from the perspective of the lowest. This unfamiliar perspective for some of us opens our eyes to things we could not see before. "The highest place" is in fact a new persecptive, a new set of values - a new heart!

We place ourselves in the hands of Grace when we embrace the journey downwards... and trust that we are being taught what we really need to know...

Devotion 24 - being calm

i have to admit that there is a lot of Thomas a Kempis' language that I don't relate to. I try not to just write him off - I try to give him the benefit of the doubt and work out what issue in his time he might have been dealing with or responding to... and then consider how it might have relevance to me today.

today's meditation - for me - was about being calm. living with a contentment that is able to withstand the challenges of sometimes turbulent circumstances.

Thomas might say - it's easy to remain calm and peaceful when you're walking on a beach far from the daily concerns that plague you. But what about a calmness - a sense of enduring peace - that is not easily upset by the challenges of a busy day.

Whatever words Thomas might use to describe it - "a truly interior person" - what he is describing is something I admire in others - when I see it - and something I would long for myself.

I remember once being served by a young woman in an indian restaurant. She served us efficiently and courteously - but she moved slowly. Her whole body reflected peace and grace as she moved about her work. That brief encounter has inspired me for a long time...