“The failure to read good books...”
The failure to read good books both enfeebles the vision and strengthens our most fatal tendency – the belief that the here and now is all there is.
— Allan Bloom (h/t: Cultural Offering)
The failure to read good books both enfeebles the vision and strengthens our most fatal tendency – the belief that the here and now is all there is.
— Allan Bloom (h/t: Cultural Offering)
The same God who guides the stars in their courses, who directs the earth in its orbit, who feeds the burning furnace of the sun, and keeps the stars perpetually burning with their fires—the same God has promised to supply thy strength. While he is able to do all these things, think not that he shall be unable to fulfill his own promise!”
— Charles Spurgeon
“It is not that we have a short space of time, but that we waste much of it. Life is long enough, and it has been given in sufficiently generous measure to allow the accomplishment of the very greatest things if the whole of it is well invested.”
So wrote the ancient Roman philosopher Seneca, nearly 2000 years ago, in his short work, “On the Shortness of Life.” This fifteen page essay is definitely worth as many minutes of your day.
Before the advent of radio, television, the internet, social media, and any other number of time-wasting inventions, Seneca wrote to caution us against wasting the most precious gift given to each of us—time. We know from high school history that ancient Rome was not without its distractions, amusements, and temptations; however, at no time in history have mindless diversions ever been as prevalent as today. Everywhere we turn, it seems there is something vying for our attention, tempting us away from truly living and toward procrastination regarding the things that really matter. The antidote, according to Seneca, is to take advantage of our days, not working ourselves ragged in vain search of glory, productivity, or status, but pursuing those things that genuinely matter and will remain significant long after our mortal lives are through.
“You live as if you were destined to live forever, no thought of your frailty ever enters your head, of how much time has already gone by you take no heed. You squander time as if you drew from a full and abundant supply, though all the while that day which you bestow on some person or thing is perhaps your last. You have all the fears of mortals and all the desires of immortals.”
Carpe diem, we might say more succinctly.
Seneca's caution is not only (or even primarily) to the young, but to men of all ages. We must take stock of how we spend our days and use them wisely. For sooner than we expect, our blood will no longer flow hot and our lives on this earth shall end. God forbid we waste our years, which are more valuable than gold.
link: Was blind but now I see
When the Church got into the habit of making faith simple or easy and doctrine reasonable and flexible to fit the times and situations of the people, the pews emptied. But when the full measure of what faith is and requires was laid before the people, they took up the cross and followed Him. The easier and simpler we try to make faith and the easier and simpler we try to making following Him, the worse it will be for the Church. It is in the desperate doubt that has surveyed every other option and found none that the broken are restored, raised up from despair and disappointment to follow Him. It is in the hesitance before the call of God that saints are made from sinners and the strong forged from the weakest of stock. Make worship easy and simple and fun, they said. But they did not come and those who came did not bother to stay. But hold up the mystery of the faith and invite the doubts to rest in the arms of the one and only who has seen the Father and, well, the Church lives.
Pr. Peters has written another fantastic piece, this time on the difficulties of the Christian faith and the disastrous results that came with our attempts to make Christianity easy and appealing. This article is worth five minutes to read slowly and hours of consideration regarding how we put this into practice in our parishes.
Hear my voice, O God, in my meditation; Preserve my life from fear of the enemy. Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked, From the rebellion of the workers of iniquity, Who sharpen their tongue like a sword, And bend their bows to shoot their arrows—bitter words, That they may shoot in secret at the blameless; Suddenly they shoot at him and do not fear. They encourage themselves in an evil matter; They talk of laying snares secretly; They say, “Who will see them?” They devise iniquities: “We have perfected a shrewd scheme.” Both the inward thought and the heart of man are deep. But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; Suddenly they shall be wounded. So He will make them stumble over their own tongue; All who see them shall flee away. All men shall fear, And shall declare the work of God; For they shall wisely consider His doing. The righteous shall be glad in the LORD, and trust in Him. And all the upright in heart shall glory.
— Psalm 64 (NKJV)
This Psalm is perfect in light of the last few weeks' news—assassinations, murders, shootings, terror anniversaries, and the like. It needs no additional commentary. Re-read it. Pray. Trust in the Lord. Be ready.
Note: If you're not regularly reading through the Psalter, now is a great time to start. This was one of the Psalms for today using the traditional 30-day reading plan from the Book of Common Prayer and widely available online.
According to Pew Research:
Those 60 and older – a group increasingly populated by aging Baby Boomers – now spend more than half of their daily leisure time, four hours and 16 minutes, in front of screens, mostly watching TV or videos.
For the love of all things true, good, and beautiful (and for your own edification), put down that blasted phone and be rebellious...
Take a walk.
Pick up a book.
Do a crossword puzzle.
Write a real letter, on paper.
Listen to a record or CD.
Pet an animal.
Work in your garden.
Daydream.
Be bored.
Do something real.
...and enjoy it.
Aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing.
— The Apostle Paul, 1 Thessalonians 4.11-12
Biblical Christianity, properly lived out, has always been counter-cultural, whether in the by-gone days of Christendom or in the nominally-Christian American culture in which many of us grew up. The difference between Christianity lived and the life epitomized, encouraged, and admired by our culture, however, has never been greater than it is today. While Scripture clearly does not call us to a life of isolated quietism, it also does not permit us to get dragged (or drag ourselves) into the swap that describes most of our culture and the ways in which we interact with it.
We would do well to reflect on what a disentangled life characterized by quiet, intentional labor would look life and how we can live that out in the midst of the bitter clamor and true laziness that describe so much of our culture.
There is no situation so chaotic that God cannot from that situation create something that is surpassingly good. He did it at the creation. He did it at the cross. He is doing it today.
— Handley Moule, Bishop of Durham