rumitoid

I have lived my long life mostly out of a sense of obligation and duty; that is not a boast but a confession. I think too much. The feral cats I feed every morning around 6:30AM (which I probably never should have started) and then again at 4:00pm I feel as a responsibility. The church and another charity I give to feels the same way. What is wrong with that?

Doing the right thing is not anything that we decide: love needs to dictate. "By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world." (1John4:17)

We have all appeared to make mistakes out of love for someone or something. Love seems a fickled thing. But our love is almost always flawed. It comes with expectations and demands. If rejected or abused we feel hurt or angry. True love, the love instilled by Christ, does not feel that. And the mundane in us finds that far too idealistic. A pipe dream. Or even an abandonment of what makes us human if true. How could we live in such a world, so separated from ordinary being?

Christ was separate from ordinary being. His way was purely perfect love. Love, his love, must lead us, not the law. Being a true Christian means being without obligation and duty. Yet it does not forsake what is obligatory or dutiful but transforms into simple acts of love, freely given without any demands on ourselves. Such love has happened a few times in my life and my mind thought me stupid or used or too hasty. But the doubts were my worldly self, coveting image. Only much later in life did I find those events to be a matter of spirit and grace. Spirit and grace is how we are to live, not by following the Law.

Quakerwidow Loc: Chestertown, MD

Amen. It will preach.

rumitoid

Thank you so much.

TexaCan Loc: Homeward Bound!

No, it doesn’t preach, “Quakerwidow!”

rumitoid

Haha, fine argument, lol