3R THURSDAY

Lively Ideas to Die For/Deathly Ideas to Live By

3-R Thursday

Rumination

What I really lack is to be clear in my mind what I am to do, not what I am to know, except insofar as a certain understanding must precede every action. The thing is to understand myself, to see what God really wishes me to do: the thing is to find a truth which is true for me, to find the idea for which I can live and die. What would be the use of discovering so-called objective truth, of working through all the systems of philosophy and of being able, if required, to review them all and show up the inconsistencies within each system; what good would it do me to be able to develop a theory of the state and combine all the details into a single whole, and so construct a world in which I did not live, but only held up to the view of others; what good would it do me to be able to explain the meaning of Christianity if it had no deeper significance for me and for my life; what good would it do me if truth stood before me, cold and naked, not caring whether I recognized her or not, and producing in me shudder of fear rather than a trusting devotion? I certainly do not deny that I still recognize an imperative of understanding and that through it one can work upon men, but it must be taken up into my life, and that is what I now recognize as the most important thing. . . .

Soren Kierkegaard (taken from Robert Solomon’s book, Existentialism (1st ed))

Reflection

What does God really wish for you life?

What idea are you willing die for and live by?

What deeper significance does Christianity have for you and your life? Not just its meaning. Not just the orthodoxy and orthopraxy. But does your theology spill out and over into your doxology?

Does an imperative of understanding of that which is work upon you in such a way that it penetrates your life down to its very depths and reaches heights that Death cannot imagine?

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow

Praise Him, all creatures here below

Praise Him above, ye heavenly host

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!

Thomas Ken

Reading

How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Reforming Marriage by Douglas Wilson

Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

Listening