classic Saturday

This week's quote comes from the Theological Germanica, a kind of tract written about 1350 that likely grew out of a German movement called "The Friends of God". Martin Luther came across a version of it in 1518 and was so impressed with it that he wrote an introduction and published it. Luther stated that aside from the Bible and St. Augustine, he had never read anything as helpful as the Theologia. I personally found this selection in the Classic Devotions book difficult to read and digest, but I did find one piece that I'll include here.

"We should note and know what is the simple truth, namely, that no virtue and no good action, not even the confession that God is good, can make man and his soul virtuous, good, or blissful so long as it occurs outside the soul.

Conversely, the same applies to sin and wickedness. It may be commendable to ask, hear about, and gather information concerning good and holy persons, what they have done and suffered, or how they have lived and how God has worked and willed in and through them. But it is a hundredfold better that people deeply within themselves learn and understand the what and the how of life. They need to learn what God is working and doing in them and how God wishes to use them and not to use them. Thus the saying is still true: No outgoing was ever so good that a remaining within was not better."

There's such a difference in my life between knowing about God and thinking about the things of God than there is in actually knowing God, relating with Him, remaining centered in Him. This gets flipped so quickly and easily in my life on a daily basis! The following line from the selection is a good one to keep handy through my days: No outgoing was ever so good that a remaining within was not better.