In which city will you find me on any given day? I am
speaking of my spiritual state as described by the great church father Aurelius
Augustine (A.D. 354- 430). He was considered the Father of the Western Church.
I found a moving passage from one of his greatest works called “The City of God”
(written A.D. 413-427). Consider your spiritual residence as you read this
portion of his writing:
“Two cities have been formed by two loves: the earthly city
by the love of self, leading to contempt of God and the heavenly city by the
love of God, leading to contempt of self. The former glories in itself, the
latter in the Lord… In the one city, the rulers and the nations that it subdues
are ruled by the love of ruling; in the other city, rulers and subjects serve
one another in love – the subjects by obeying, the rulers by caring for all…
These two cities are two communities of men. One is predestined to reign
eternally with God, the other to suffer eternal punishment with the devil…Citizens
are born into the earthly city by a nature spoiled by sin, but they are born
into the heavenly city by grace freeing nature from sin".
Oh, that I will dwell in the city of God every day of my life!
Reference:
Lane, T. "A Concise History of Christian Thought". Grand Rapids
MI: Baker Academic (2006, p. 53)
GoogleImage
No comments:
Post a Comment