Patmore: all that God can give
Monday, April 25, 2016
Feast of Mark the Evangelist
Meditation:
[Jesus:] “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
—John 15:13 (KJV)
Quotation:
To love another as oneself is only the halfway house to Heaven, though it seems as far as it was prudent to bid man go. The “greater love than this” of which our Lord speaks, though He does not command it, is to give oneself for one’s friends. And when one does this, or is ready to do this, prayer even for “us” seems too selfish—and it is unnecessary, for we then possess all that God Himself can give us. The easy renunciation of self for the Beloved becomes the very breath of life.
... Coventry Patmore (1823-1896), Memoirs and Correspondence of Coventry Patmore, v. II, London: George Bell & Sons, 1900, p. 88 (see the book)
See also John 15:13; Lev. 19:18; John 10:11-15; Rom. 5:6-8; Eph. 5:1-2; 1 John 4:7-11
Quiet time reflection:
Lord, grant that I might know the reality of sacrifice for the Body.CQOD Blog email RSS
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Feast of Mark the Evangelist
Meditation:
[Jesus:] “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
—John 15:13 (KJV)
Quotation:
To love another as oneself is only the halfway house to Heaven, though it seems as far as it was prudent to bid man go. The “greater love than this” of which our Lord speaks, though He does not command it, is to give oneself for one’s friends. And when one does this, or is ready to do this, prayer even for “us” seems too selfish—and it is unnecessary, for we then possess all that God Himself can give us. The easy renunciation of self for the Beloved becomes the very breath of life.
... Coventry Patmore (1823-1896), Memoirs and Correspondence of Coventry Patmore, v. II, London: George Bell & Sons, 1900, p. 88 (see the book)
See also John 15:13; Lev. 19:18; John 10:11-15; Rom. 5:6-8; Eph. 5:1-2; 1 John 4:7-11
Quiet time reflection:
Lord, grant that I might know the reality of sacrifice for the Body.
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sub fb twt Jonah Ruth
posted by Robert McAnally Adams at 4/25/2016 02:00:00 AM
2 Comments:
Thanks for this well focused statement describing what Jesus called His own, new commandment: how to love one another believers as He loved us all, including all believers of every Christian denomination and faith group who believe Jesus equally gives us all repentance and forgiveness of sins the same in His blood.
I agree completely with this entire article. This centrality of self-sacrificial love for all believers is the point of the prayer of Jesus in John 17 for Christian unity of the body of Christ. This love, along with holiness, is the definition of the Holy Spirit in a man that Jesus showed us believers, all, and is the Spirit in which we believers will soon unite to show the whole world God sent that Spirit in Jesus to the world, so He could give that Spirit to live in all who would believe it so.
Here's an excerpt from one of several websites I work with to that same effect:
"To lay down our lives for all believers is a matter of loving in greater degree that does not involve our salvation, but something John says we "ought" to do. It's the debt or goodwill we owe Jesus for what He did for us, which we can in no way pay back or ever deserve; in a very real sense, it's the least we can do.
"We can never pay Jesus back for His astounding grace in humbling Himself, laying down His power in heaven to come here and die for us, but we can at least love our brother in Christ whom we have seen, as a small token of our love for God, whom we have not seen, in return for His love in giving us Jesus, so Jesus could give Himself for us all.
"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.” (1Jo 3:16 NIV)"
Thanks for your interesting and encouraging comment.
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