Chapter 37 - Simplicity

Chapter 37 simplified our view on Simplicity using 7 Bible passages, as follows:

Luke 18:18-25
Matthew 6:25-34
1 Thessalonians 5:12-28
Luke 9:18-27
3 John
Matthew 18:1-4
Luke 12:22-34

(Note: If you would like to look up these passages online, there are many online Bibles you could use. Here is one link: http://www.studylight.org/.)

Invocation:

“Strengthen me, O God, by the grace of your Holy Spirit; grant me to be strengthened with might in the inner man, and to put away from my heart all useless anxiety and distress, and let me never be drawn aside by various longings after anything whatever, whether it be worthless or precious; but may I regard all things as passing away, and myself as passing away with them. Amen.” (Thomas à Kempis in Little Book of Prayers)

Hymn:

The hymn for Chapter 37 was “Close to Thee” by Fanny J. Crosby. (If you are not familiar with the song, just Google the hymn name and you will get multiple sources to read and/or hear it, as well as its history.)

Benediction:

“Grant me, O Lord, to know what I ought to know, to love what I ought to love, to praise what delights You most, to value what is precious in Your sight, to hate what is offensive to You. Amen.” (Thomas à Kempis in Little Book of Prayers)

Meditation Selections:

The meditation selections included excerpts from the writings of Gontran de Poncins, Evelyn Underhill, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Albert E. Day, E. B. White, A. W. Tozer and Jean-Pierre de Caussade. (Googling their names may give you some insight into their backgrounds and experiences, if that's of any interest to you.)

Some of the interesting quotes from the meditations included:

· “… He lived, he sustained himself, by prayer. Had he been dependent only upon human strength he would have lived in despair, been driven mad. But he called upon other forces, and they preserved him.”
· “Consider that wonderful world of life in which you are placed, and observe that its great rhythms of birth, growth and death – all the things that really matter – are not in your control. That unhurried process will go forward in its stately beauty, little affected by your anxious fuss. … Discern substance from accident. Don’t confuse your meals with your life, and your clothes with your body. Don’t lose your head over what perishes. … The simpler your house, the easier it will be run.”
· “The life of discipleship can only be maintained as long as nothing is allowed to come between Christ and ourselves – neither the law, nor personal piety, nor even the world.”
· “Simplicity means ‘absence of artificial ornamentation, pretentious styles, or luxury.’ It is ‘artlessness, lack of cunning or duplicity.’ … Simplicity does not mean ‘easy to understand.’ … Paul was not always easy to understand. Nor was Jesus. … Their intention was not to confuse or deceive but to clarify and illumine.”
· “Acquisition goes on day and night – smoothly, subtly, imperceptibly. I have no sharp taste for acquiring things, but it is not necessary to desire things in order to acquire them. Goods and chattels seek a man out; they find him even though his guard is up. … Under ordinary circumstances, the only stuff that leaves a home is paper trash and garbage; everything else stays on and digs in.”
· “Our Lord referred to this tyranny of things when he said to his disciples, ‘If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.’ … Jesus called it ‘life’ and ‘self’, or as we would say, the self-life. Its chief characteristic is its possessiveness…”
· “There is nothing more certain to resist the wiles of the flesh than simplicity…”

What do any of these quotes (or any of the meditations in Chapter 37 not quoted) mean to you? Please post your responses to the blog site:
(http://lhcndeeperlifeclass.blogspot.com/).

Thanks for your participation.
John

Chapter 36 - Obedience

Chapter 36 focused our attention on Obedience in 7 Bible passages, as follows:

Matthew 8:18-22
Luke 1:26-28
Deuteronomy 26:16-19
Matthew 10:32-42
1 Samuel 15:12-15
Matthew 19:16-30
Acts 15:17-29

Invocation:

“…Grant that I may direct all my knowledge, my whole capacity, all my happiness, and all my exertions, to please you, to love you, and to obtain your love for time and eternity. Amen.” (Thomas à Kempis in The Imitation of Christ)

Hymn:

The hymn for Chapter 36 was “Trust and Obey” by John Sammis. (If you are not familiar with the song, just Google the hymn name and you will get multiple sources to read and/or hear it, as well as its history.)

Benediction:

“Speak, Lord, for your servant hears. Grant me ears to hear, eyes to see, a will to obey, a heart to love; then declare what you will, reveal what you will, command what you will, demand what you will. Amen.” (Christina Rosetti in Little Book of Prayers)

Meditation Selections:

The meditation selections included excerpts from the writings of Phillips Brooks, Emilie Griffin, Stephen F. Winward, Georgia Harkness, Tilden H. Edwards, Thomas R. Kelly, C. S. Lewis, Oswald Chambers and Thomas à Kempis. (Googling their names may give you some insight into their backgrounds and experiences, if that's of any interest to you.)

Some of the interesting quotes from the meditations included:

• “The great danger facing all of us … is that we may fail to perceive life’s greatest meaning, fall short of its highest good, miss its deepest and most abiding happiness, be unable to render the most needed service, be unconscious of life ablaze with the light of the Presence of God – and be content to have it so.”
• “Prayer is, after all, a very dangerous business. For all the benefits it offers of growing closer to God, it carries with it one great element of risk: the possibility of change.”
• “… to define prayer is no simple matter. … Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God, for things agreeable to His will.”
• “Come and taste the fruit of obedience.”
• “Begin where you are. Obey now.”
• “Do at once what you must do one day. … Duty is imperative; it must be done. … (Do not) compel God to compel you.”
• “The golden rule of understanding spiritually is not intellect, but obedience. … spiritual darkness comes because of something I do not intend to obey.”
• “ ‘Ye call me Master and Lord’ – but is He?”
• “Independence belongs to God, who has made man dependent on others that his subordination may be to him the means of his sanctification. I will therefore form myself upon the model of my submissive, dependent, and obedient Saviour, and dispose of nothing in myself, not even of my own will.”

What do any of these quotes (or any of the meditations in Chapter 36 not quoted) mean to you? Please post your responses to the blog site:
(http://lhcndeeperlifeclass.blogspot.com/).

Thanks for your participation.
John

Chapter 35 - Humility

Chapter 35 referenced 7 Bible passages to focus our attention on Humility, as follows:

Jeremiah 10:23-25
Romans 1:1-17
Isaiah 6:1-8
Matthew 23:1-12
Acts 10:1-48
Matthew 3:1-17
Galatians 6:11-18

Invocation:

“O Christ, your blessed faith in me sends me to my knees. I am humbled at your confidence in me. Now help me to be in some measure worthy of your faith. Amen.” (E. Stanley Jones in Mastery)

Hymn:

The hymn for Chapter 35 was “O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go” by George Matheson. (If you are not familiar with the song, just Google the hymn name and you will get multiple sources to read and/or hear it, as well as its history.)

Benediction:

“O Father, I thank you that I can stand before you neither above or below any person. Help me to take that privilege and give it to every other person. Amen.”

Meditation Selections:

The meditation selections included excerpts from the writings of Susan Annette Muto, Thomas Merton, an anonymous Mother Superior, William Barclay, Albert E. Day and Madeleine L’Engle. (Googling their names may give you some insight into their backgrounds and experiences, if that's of any interest to you.)

Some of the interesting quotes from the meditations included:

· “Humility opens our inner ears. …Humility withstands any arrogant tendency to reduce the word to our purposes.”
· “Humility is a virtue, not a neurosis. …A humility that freezes our being and frustrates all healthy activity is not humility at all, but a disguised form of pride.”
· The quote from the anonymous Mother Superior should be read in its entirety, so I will not excerpt any of it here.
· “The first barrier to meekness arises whenever we claim as our own what is really a gift of God. …The second is the tendency to dominate others. …The third is the tendency to see only what is wrong in a situation and never to affirm the good.”
· “The way to knowledge begins with the admission of ignorance. The one man who can never learn is the man who thinks that he knows everything already.”
· “So humility is not weakness but strength, for it receives the strength of God. It is not folly, but wisdom, for it is open to the ever available wisdom of God. It is not nothingness but fullness, for into the vacuum created by the demolition of human pride and self-sufficiency, pours the fullness of God.”
· “Right prayer is a time of great, genuine humility.”
· “Humility is throwing oneself away in complete concentration on something or someone else.”

As an extra feature in the study of this chapter on humility, Elaine Roberts synopsized the Humility Chapter from Bruce Marchiano’s book The Character of a Man. The synopsis is too lengthy to quote here, but I recommend you get a copy of the book and read the chapter if you wish to further expand your understanding of humility.

What do any of these quotes (or any of the meditations in Chapter 35 not quoted) mean to you? Please post your responses to the blog site:
(http://lhcndeeperlifeclass.blogspot.com/).

Thanks for your participation.
John