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Wisdom Saying
Let this be your Christianity, your Church, and your religion. For this new birth in Christ thus firmly believed and continually desired will do everything that you want to have done in you; it will dry up all the springs of vice, stop all the workings of evil in your nature; it will bring all that is good into you; it will open all the Gospel within you, and you will know what it is to be taught of God.
*William Law, Christian Mystical Theologian (1686-1761)
Scripture~Jeremiah 31.31-34 (ESV)
31"Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. 33But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."
Comments
There is much value in outer aspects of our Christian faith. The aspects include rites, pilgrimages, observing the hours, special feast days, remembrance of great Christians of past generations, worship sites, hymns, doctrines, creeds, ... The site of or holding of Holy Scripture or a book of prayer can be a devotional rite. Kneeling at an altar is a meaningful rite for many persons, including this writer.
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As we mature in Christ, relationship with outer aspects shows lessening of dependence, even if there is not lessening of use. Indeed, the lessening is equal to a slow shifting toward the inner life. At the same time, outer aspects of faith take on increasing spiritual significance. This leads us more deeply into the inner life.
The passage above from Jeremiah addresses the nation of Israel. Jeremiah foretold such a shift toward the inner life that persons~each and all~would be taught inwardly by the Holy Spirit. Everyone would be so taught inwardly, that she would truly know (Hebrew indicates intimate, personal sharing) the Living One (Yahweh).
Christ came and comes to fulfill this hope given in Jeremiah. Reflecting words above of William Law, the Holy Spirit opens within us the Gospel. Then, we can say, "I am not only a true Christian, but Christianity is wholly and joyfully living inside me."
Suggested Reflection
How have you grow in both the outer and inner aspects of the Christian faith?
See next page for details on OneLife Ministries, Brian's book An Ache for Union, and material pertaining to sources used in the writing.
Feel free to submit a query. Thanks! Brian K. Wilcox
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