Nate used the following Bonhoeffer quote on his recent entry: "When Christ calls a man, he bids him to come and die". This idea of "dying to self" is the most challenging theological idea to me right now. In the last two years, I have seen the birth of my child, rededicated myself to my marriage, landed a tenure-track University teaching position, bought a house, published articles, and began running races again. Self-absorbtion is my M.O. right now. I am so far away from "dying to self" it is sinful. And I mean sinful.
On the phone the other night, Nate said, " I think there is a difference between living a life of humility and living a life with humble acts." I think I'm doing a good job of being a good person because I often do good things for people. See what I mean: This is not the life of humility. It's a guy who is merely masking his self-absorbtion with "good" deeds. I am more convinced that Jesus doesn't want us to "do good deeds." Jesus wants us to completely die and give ourselves over to His kingdom and His people.
I'm just not sure what that looks like right now. I'm praying, though. I promise you that.
Oh, the picture: Matthew 6 reminds us:
"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."
My problem is that not only does my left hand know what my right hand is doing, it is urging it to do more so it can get all the recognition. Then, they start clapping for themselves.
the elder
P.S. the younger says I write too much. Forgive me.
1 comment:
nah you don't write that much...especially for being an English lit prof...so thank you.
ah the concept of death and dying to ourselves. i think we miss...or more likely swing from one extreme to the next...the idea of death and life as reality and its spiritual concepts. i heard a song the other day that really spoke wisdom to me.
may you live your days in grace and die in that same way....may you have died in grace and live that same way.
how do we truly live in death and die in life?!?!?! wow Jesus...way to make us cross eyed with depth of a truly unfathomable concept that we (this side of the Kingdom) will not understand in completion. i think as we turn to the church letters paul tries to address the idea of a continual reminding self of whose we are, a continual putting of christ, a continual dying to self...
to write more than you wrote...i think Nathan's newest post reflects on part of the problem in that the church over the past 150 years has become so enthralled with being 'relative', which is a nice way of saying weakening of the Truth, we have weakened this idea of the very message of Christ, enigma C.S. Lewis calls the Both And Theory...well he didn't make it a theory but it is, jesus teaches us freedom and slavery, serving and leading, first and last, blessed and cursed, loved and hated....His entire message of hope and love is full of a both ands....to dye to self....is to live for Him...to live for him is to die for others...hhhmmmmmm
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