Thomas a’ Kempis’ The Imitation of Christ has good words for me and other bibliophiles: ”Certainly, when Judgment Day comes we shall not be asked what books we have read, but what deeds we have done; we shall not be asked how well we have debated, but how devoutly we have lived.” (1.3.5)
Hmmm…a good word for the day.
The ancient inscription on the Delphi Temple read, “Know thyself.” That two word command (or is it an invitation) summarizes
almost all of ancient philosophy; all the great thinkers beginning with Plato sought to do just that – to “know thyself.” It wasn’t just the pagan philosopher either; Christian theologians quickly adopted the motto and reoriented it towards knowing thy true self along with true knowledge of God. Here is a sampling of Christian theologians on “knowing thyself.”
Clement of Alexandria: ”If one knows himself, he will know God.”
Augustine: ”I desire to know God and the soul.” Nothing more?” ”Nothing whatever.”
Augustine (again): ”Let me know myself, let me know Thee.”
Calvin: “Nearly all wisdom we possess … consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves.”
What does it mean, then, to “know thyself” and how does it help us know God? Calvin gives a couple of suggestions. First, to “know thyself” is to consider how we were meant to be when first created. We are to ponder all of the great gifts that God gave to us in creation – intellect, creativity, dominion, love, justice, relationships, etc – and to realize that none of these came from our own hand, but by the gracious hand of God. In like manner, the Psalmist bursts into song: ”What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands…” (Ps. 8:4-6). What a delight to contemplate our intended place in God’s good creation!
Seconldy, however, Calvin points out that in “knowing thyself” we understand our “miserable condition” we now find ourselves in because of sin. An honest assessment of who we are now, says Calvin, will reveal to us a “sorry spectacle of our foulness.” (This, I suppose is where we get the image of all the sour-faced Calvinists!) But, thankfully, we don’t stop there. Calvin writes, “From this source arise abhorrence and displeasure with ourselves, as well as true humility; and thence is kindled a new zeal to seek God…” (II.I.i). Earlier he states, “No one can look upon himself without immediately turning his thoughts to the contemplation of God, in whom he ‘lives and moves’” (I.I.i).
So, with a healthful look at thyself, seeing thy intended beauty and realizing thy “sorry spectacle,” turn thy gaze from thyself to the Living God.
I was doing some reading and came across some helpful words from a Puritan, Lewis Bayly. One of the chapers in his book, “The Practice of Piety” is called: “BRIEF DIRECTIONS HOW TO READ THE HOLY SCRIPTURES ONCE EVERY YEAR OVER, WITH EASE, PROFIT, AND REVERENCE.” He outlines six guidelines for profitable Bible reading. Although they seem profitable, I’m not sure they make reading the Bible in a year “easy” as he claims. Regardless, I offer them as suggestions for reflective Bible reading.
I’ve taken the liberty to “”modernize” and paraphrase what Bayly wrote.
“Just as faith is the soul of Bible reading, so reading and meditating on the Word of God are the parents of prayer, therefore, before you pray in the morning read a chapter in the Word of God, then meditate on all the excellent things there are in that passage. The following is a guide for meditation:
First: How is the passage challenging you to live a holy life filled with good works?
Second: Are there any warnings of God’s judgment on particular sins that you need to hear?
Third: What blessings does God promise to those who demonstrate patience, chastity, mercy, gift-giving, zealous service, love, faith and trust in God, and other Christian virtues?
Fourth: How is God the gracious deliverer and gift-giver to his faithful people in this passage?
Fifth: Apply these things to your own heart; don’t read the passage merely as history, but as God’s letter sent from heaven to you.
Sixth: Receive God’s Word with reverence as if God stood by your side speaking His word directly to you. Apply all that you read in Scripture to yourself and respond appropriately – either growing in faith or in genuine repentance.”
I loved the section: “reading and meditating on God’s Word are the parents of prayer…”; what a great metaphor!
This week has been a monumental week. Anyone paying attention to the news, even remotely, would have noticed all the beautiful panoramas of our nation’s monuments and government buildings. All of the footage of Washington D.C. makes me want to get back there and take a stroll down the mall and peruse our nation’s museum storehouses. The symmetrical design of our capitol is telling of our desire for order and beauty. Besides being taken back by our nation’s monuments, this week of course has been monumental in a different way: the swearing in of the first African-American president. That’s monumental.
Although most commentators that I’ve read have stated that Obama’s speech was far from being monumental, another speech given, not too long ago (in terms of histories of nations are concerned), by Martin Luther King, Jr. on the steps of the Lincoln monument was indeed monumental. His famous words echoed out across the nation’s mall:
“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” …
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. …”
King’s words were prophetic words in 1963. People had become accustomed to a segregated society, not just in the United States but throughout the world. We are a post-Babel society where, because of our human hubris, God confused the languages of the people (Gen. 11). But that’s not to say that diversity (such a “buzz” word these days) itself is a result of our human pride and sin.
Right before Genesis 11 recounts the confusion of the languages, chapter 10 tells of the diversity of Noah’s descendants:
v.2-5 “The sons of Japtheth … From these the coastland peoples spread in their lands, each with his own language , by their clans, in their nations.”
v.6-20 “These are the sons of Ham, by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations.”
v.21-31 “These are the sons of Shem, by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations.”
How odd, then, that Genesis 11:1 begins with, “Now the whole earth had one language and the same words.” What? I thought that the previous verses stated that the sons of Noah were divided by their own clan and their own language. Perhaps, and this is a perhaps, although the languages were divided, although there was diversity, there was a sense of understanding and unity despite their differences. In this way, when God confuse the languages because of human sin he didn’t create diversity as a curse but rather put an end to the unity in the midst of diversity.
Fast-forward to the New Testament, where I think we get a Babel-reversing and world-shaking picture of God’s church, diverse yet united. The disciples had hunkered down following Jesus’ ascension, waiting for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit when “suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. … And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues [languages] as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. … And they were amazed …” (Acts 2:1-7).
Here the great reversal of Babel occurs. Before Babel, there were diverse languages yet understanding and unity. After Babel, diverse languages and division. After Pentecost, by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit God’s people, men and women “from every nation under heaven” again are brought together despite their diverse clans, languages, lands, and nations” to praise and honor, not themselves as they did at Babel, but the living God.
As I’m reading through Genesis, I’m struck by how often the Bible refers to us as being not at home – a wandering people. Later in Scripture this gets picked up with the idea of exile, but already in the first few chapters we are no longer at home with God; we are a pilgrim people.
Genesis 3:23,24: ”…the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim…”
Genesis 4:12,16: “You [Cain] shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth. … Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.”
Genesis 12:1: “Now the LORD said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.”
Genesis 12:10: ”Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there…”
In Genesis (and later in Exodus), God’s people were physically wandering. Today that wandering continues until we return to God. Jesus, too, tells a story the wandering son (the Prodigal Son) who left his loving father and wandered to a distant land only to squander his wealth and life. Finally the prodigal wanderer remembered his Father and returned home. St. Augustine nailed it when he wrote in his Confessions, “My heart is restless until it rests in Thee.”
As some of you may know already (but probably don’t care!), John Calvin will be celebrating his 500th birthday on July 10, 2009. So with that in mind, I thought it appropriate that from time to time this year to reflect on some of Calvin’s legacies – not to bring glory to him, but to be reminded of his service to Christ’s church – both in the 16th century as well as how his ideas and work has been beneficial throughout the centuries since. Of course there are plenty of Calvin celebrations this year, all of which Calvin would not have enjoyed seeing that he really didn’t want to bring attention to himself (the “Captain” of the Reformation, some have called him, requested to buried in an unmarked grave!).
Q. What is your only comfort
in life and in death?
A. That I am not my own,
but belong—
body and soul,
in life and in death—
to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.
He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood,
and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil.
He also watches over me in such a way
that not a hair can fall from my head
without the will of my Father in heaven:
in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.
Because I belong to him,
Christ, by his Holy Spirit,
assures me of eternal life
and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready
from now on to live for him.
Certainly the most familiar words from the 450 year old document come from this first quesion and answer – and for good reason! There is so much here to be packed that we could camp out here for a long, long time. In fact that’s just what I did for awhile during college. In a time of uncertainty in my life and deep worries, I turned to this Q&A for deep comfort. I memorized the lines: “I am not my own, but belong – body and soul, in life and in death – to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.” That phrase I turned into a breath prayer. Throughout the day I would pray it repeatedly – “I am not my own, but I BELONG to you Lord and you are faithful.” In this way, my heart did find comfort.
