Forward Movement is an official, non-profit agency of the Episcopal Church whose mission is to create compelling content for Christian living. Since 1935 we have published the quarterly devotional Forward Day by Day, as well as pamphlets, booklets, and books that encourage and nourish people in their lives of prayer and faith.
SUNDAY, October 18 20 Pentecost
Mark 10:35-45. [Jesus] said to them, "What is it you want me to do for you?" And [James and John] said to him, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory."
Some nations, thanks to deforestation, are losing so much of their topsoil that they can no longer grow food for their people.
In the spiritual life, too, we go unfed if we cultivate only the things on the surface. Sometimes I become so engaged in the trappings of religion--surface appearances--that I forget to pursue God. With no depth to the soil, no relationship with God can grow.
James and John fell victim to tending the surface instead of concentrating on the depth of their spiritual lives in Christ. They asked to sit on Jesus' left and right in his glory; in other words, they missed entirely the essence of Jesus' message to love. In their quest for status, they forgot about deepening the soil in which the relationship with God grows. If the soil becomes too shallow, nothing can grow.
And when religion becomes nothing more than busy work and doctrines accepted but not internalized, a faith lived on the surface, we lose capacity to grow the nourishing relationship with God. And without God, we simply cannot live.
PRAY for the Diocese of The Gulf (Pakistan)
Ps 104: 1-9, 25, 37c and Job 38: 1-7, (34-41) –OR– Ps 91:9-16 and Isaiah 53:4-12; Hebrews 5:1-10
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and a warranty to get through life. We feel uncertain,
frightened. We want the security of knowing what is going to happen, and how we shall act. We do not trust ourselves or life. We do not trust God. We want to be in control."
This is a quote from a meditation I read daily. To me, this is the essence of religiosity. It is a default position that I will revert back to instead of staying in relationship with God. It's easier than doing the hard work of being honest with God myself and others about who I really am and how I really feel.
Lord, thank you that I have a new default position in Christ and through year's of practice of the discipline's of the spiritual life, my new default of relationship holds firm and I can enjoy the fruit of the Holy Spirit moment by moment each day. Amen!