For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. He committed no sin; no guile was found on his lips. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he trusted to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls. (1 Peter 2.21-25)
Beloved, the holy Apostle here shows us the path of true godliness and truth. It is not an easy way but a narrow one. It is the path of our Saviour who calls to him those who are his (John 10.3) and says to them, “Look, I am he who created all worlds and all inhabitants that live in them, I am he who has no beginning and end; yet, I came to my own who did not receive me but put me to shame and grief. It is this path I call you too. A path of hardship, for the world will hate you, for you are not of it.” It is path that causes great sorrow, pain, tribulation, and death. It is a path which follows in the steps of our dear Saviour, who left us an example of such magnitude that we cannot but break into praise and love.
The bruises and scars which mark his holy body now are signs of the suffering he endured for all our sakes. How can we forget the price he paid to secure our salvation? And yet, what are we prone to do, dear ones? We complain and moan when we do not get our way. We long for something that will do us harm and we will do everything in our power to get it and if we do not get it, oh how we fly into such rages! Once we set our minds on anything immoderately we lose all other powers and long for that which we, foolishly think, will grant us all peace. And what happens when we do get our way? As a Kempis says:
…if he gives way to his [immoderate passions] and gets what he wants, all at once he is struck down by remorse of conscience; that is all that comes of yielding to passion–he is no nearer the peace of mind he aimed at. No, the heart can only find rest by resisting its passions, not by humouring them; heart’s rest is for the fervent, the devout, not for the carnally minded, for those who give themselves over to the love of outward things.
But how sinful we are! What are we to do? The good that we attempt to do, we fail to do; and the evil we try desperately to avoid, we find ourselves doing! O how we fall and fail so often! How can we be delivered from this body of death? Look to Jesus Christ, beloved! Look to him by faith, by faith gain hold of him, clutch him, bind yourself to him, say to him, “I am yours! Save me!” Do not look within, to your own righteousness which will get you nowhere, look outside yourself to Christ, the risen Saviour, whose righteousness is perfect, he who did not sin nor was guile found in his mouth, trust in his righteousness for your salvation! Only there can you hope for salvation. There is our hope and trust secured, tied to him, Anchor of our souls, by faith these promises become ours so that we may, as the Apostle Paul says, “be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, based on law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith” (Philippians 3.9). And then we may stand against the Devil, as Martin Luther said, “So when the devil throws your sins in your face and declares that you deserve death and hell, tell him this: ‘I admit that I deserve death and hell, what of it? For I know One who suffered and made satisfaction on my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, Son of God, and where he is there I shall be also!’”
And we know this path is also one of great joy, love, and praise. It is the path of salvation. It is the Path of Peace, a peace which passes all understanding (Philippians 4.7) and keeps our minds focused upon Christ in faith. As our Saviour said, “Come unto me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11.28-30). Jesus has given us so many gifts to rest and refresh our weary souls. He has given us his holy Word to read (and that Word speaks about him, John 5.39-40), his holy Sacraments (look back to your Baptism and see what Christ did for you there, partake of the holy Body and sacred Blood of Jesus in the Eucharist, feeding upon him in your heart by faith, and recieve forgiveness of sins, John 6.35-58), prayer to him, confession and absolution, all these areas we can find in the Church which Jesus gave us to comfort us. He knows we are weak and need things we can see and touch so he has given us bread and wine to feed our souls in that holy mystery, he shows how he can use water to save us (John 3.5; cf. 1 Peter 3.21; Titus 3.5), he shows us pictures of holy scenes so we can learn to love him better.
Oh, my beloved, may you all learn from this holy lesson from St Peter and love Jesus with all your hearts. Trusting in him alone for your salvation, may we all walk the hard, narrow path of abundant life. Look to Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore. Amen. Pax Christi vobiscum!
Excellent meditations
The problem I always have when reading devotional literature (and some Christian psychology) is my inability to retain information. And when the devotional literature is good, this is bad; it means the effect of the meditations is significantly lessened.
Some things stuck out here though that I will probably remember now (especially considering we talked about some of this in person).
1. The goodness of having one’s desires frustrated–something which has the ability to temper a soul to love God. Next time when the desire to discuss something or debate something to show off my own abilities comes up, this is a truth that must be remembered.
2. Our tendency to revert back to sin very quickly–the most saddening and sickening feature of my own psychology (and that of many others). This is getting better I think; but the more God heals my dead will, the more remorse i feel when I do continue in sin. More prayer and grace is needed it seems.
3. I have one criticism, and it is of some significance. I don’t think that saying we fail to do the good we try to do, or that the evil we try to avoid we find ourselves doing, is a normative description of Christian psychology. I’m not sure if you were saying this, but it seemed you might have been. Now your observation may be a correct statistical generalization; that is to say, it may be the case that Christians often have this kind of experience. But I don’t think that Paul’s point in Romans 7 is to say that Christians should experience this even if they have a healthy spiritual life. Quite the contrary; if grace dwells in us appropriately, it seems we would not be unable to avoid sinning (1 Cor 10:13). Obviously this comes from the Adam interpretation of Romans 7 given by Witherington. You should look into this interpretation (I argued for it on my blog) because it is very well-argued and culturally/rhetorically sensitive (whereas, right or not, Augustine’s/Luther’s understanding here was not based on that kind of scholarship). This obviously has major implications for our views of sin, original sin, grace, free will, responsibility, and sanctificiation.
4. It is interesting to realize that though I have often questioned Reformed theology’s tendency to follow Augustine’s introspectiveness and individualism, the Reformed view of justification seems to be (in some ways) less introspective. Locating one’s legal status externally to oneself is certainly a step outside of introspection. I do think that some Reformed theologians (and some of their Evangelical compatriots) have mistakenly taken justification to be ALL that there is to salvation, and have interpreted sola fide/imputation in highly individualistic, overly self-referential ways (and therefore in contrast to biblical biblical culture). But I suppose that my belief in infused righteousness could maybe be accused (in some sense) of being more introspective, and perhaps more individualistic. This is something I will have to think about. Hmm…
If the ability to stimulate thought is the sign of a good post, then this one rates fairly high. I look forward to the next one.
David, you need to post here again!
David,
Thanks! Actually, as can be readily perceived, I haven’t given this blog the time of day for well over a year. I consider this blog somewhat dead and currently inoperable. Indeed, I found this blog once more but coming across it in the Blogroll of MG’s blog, ‘The Well of Questions’ and was rather surprised to see its continued presence there (MG should definitely perform some form of Spring cleaning on his blog).
But I have considered opening another blog (whether it be this one, which would require something of an overhaul, or another one under a different name). I simply felt that I had no time for a blog (which at the time was most assuredly untrue), and now that I truly have little time to spare, I consider opening a blog. If I did, there would be devotional/meditational materials but not exclusively so. Rather, the bulk would be my continued ecclesiatico-spiritual journey and deep wrestlings with theological opinions and beliefs (a la Radical Orthodoxy (though along the constructive lines of D. B. Hart), Patristic and Medieval theology, Anglican and Eastern Orthodox theology, etc. etc. etc.).
Also, if you do check this blog again (which is highly doubtful), I will respond to you soon on Facebook (concerning Prayer Books, etc.) and also: do you know how you change your screen name on this thing? I put ἀνακεφαλαίωσις as my screen name accidently but I would like my actual name instead! Blast.
Pax in Christi et Domina nostra,
David Kaufmann
Actually, I just opened a new account under this name and this one was made under the old one (whose name and password I have entirely forgotten). Ergo, this blog is, verily, passed on. If I do desire to blog once more it shall have to be under a different blog entirely.
Peace,
David
By the by, what the hell is that purple icon thing???