Chesterton: inner vs. outer light

Monday, June 13, 2016
    Commemoration of Gilbert Keith Chesterton, Apologist and Writer, 1936
Meditation:
    All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
    —Isaiah 64:6 (NIV)
Quotation:
    That Jones shall worship the “god within him” turns out ultimately to mean that Jones shall worship Jones. Let Jones worship the sun or moon, anything rather than the Inner Light; let Jones worship cats or crocodiles, if he can find any in his street, but not the god within. Christianity came into the world firstly in order to assert with violence that a man had not only to look inwards, but to look outwards, to behold with astonishment and enthusiasm a divine company and a divine captain. The only fun of being a Christian was that a man was not left alone with the Inner Light, but definitely recognized an outer light, fair as the sun, clear as the moon, terrible as an army with banners.
    ... Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936), Orthodoxy, London, New York: John Lane Company, 1909, p. 138-139 (see the book)
    See also Isa. 64:6; Luke 18:9-14; 2 Cor. 10:17,18; Gal. 6:3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, my inner light is all darkness. I thank you and praise You for bringing light to me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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