September 19

“We can abide by a principle.  But we can only abide in a person.  People will always be more important to people than principles will ever be.  God created us that way, and so it is no wonder at all that He invaded our world Himself as a human being who also cared much more about people than ethical concepts.”  Eugenia Price, S.P.S., 9/12

“Religion” is abiding by principles.  “Christianity,” that is to say, a personal commitment to Christ Himself, is abiding in a person.  Eugenia makes the statement that “people will always be more important to people than principles.”  I would agree that God meant it to be this way, but I can attest to the fact that it does not always play out this way.  I’ve far too often “stood on my principles” at the expense of my relationships.  It has been difficult because it is so foreign to me to abide in Christ because of my well-ingrained practice of abiding by principles.  I can see why God would have to remove from my life those practices and opportunities that promote my principles.  He is making it obvious to me, in my loneliness, that principles, while desirable, should not be the guiding light in our lives.  They are merely the outcome of our abiding in Christ and He in us.  If we make the principle the guiding light then we’ve made them into our idols.  Christ should always be Who we seek, then our relationship with people will be as it should.

“No man has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.  By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his own Spirit.”  1 John 4:12, 13