That bores me at best and annoys me much more often. Let's talk about vocation - let's talk about living out the tasks God Himself has set us to. Consider the Small Catechism on Confession:
What
sins should we confess?
Before
God we should plead guilty of all sins, even of those which
we do not know, as we do in the Lord's Prayer. But before the
confessor we should confess those sins alone which we know and
feel in our hearts.
Which
are these?
Here
consider your station according to the Ten Commandments, whether
you are a father, mother, son, daughter, master, mistress, a
man-servant or maid-servant; whether you have been disobedient,
unfaithful, slothful; whether you have grieved any one by words
or deeds; whether you have stolen, neglected, or wasted aught,
or done other injury.
See where we are taught to look? To our vocations... to how we handle our neighbor. Or consider the table of duties... all tied to vocation. These end up being concrete ways of service, ways of service given me by God. He has made me holy by His Spirit and He has made me a husband, a father, a son, a pastor, a neighbor, a citizen, etc. -- let that Holiness that God has given me be shown in these tasks, not by some man made litmus test of what a good Christian "looks" like.
Show me your sanctification by telling me what you don't do, and I will live the Sanctification God has worked in me through the vocations he has placed me in.
Show me your sanctification by telling me what you don't do, and I will live the Sanctification God has worked in me through the vocations he has placed me in.
2 comments:
Sometimes, it seems as if I am reading a different version of the Christian Book of Concord than everyone else. SIGH.
The thing about all the sanctification talk I do NOT understand is that our doctrine is pretty darn clear that the Holy Spirit is the one who sanctifies, not us. It is HIS WORK, not ours, accomplished through the faith given to us through the Sacraments and the active, creative Living Word. I could populate your comment space with a bunch of BOC quotes, but sometimes I wonder if it is no longer worth the bother. It is as if people go blind when anything comes up about sanctification being the work of the Holy Spirit or the actual power of the Living Word.
Myrtle,
If people didn't think that they could some how take credit for their sanctification, they'd have no interest in talking about it... just as so view people have any interest in actually serving the neighbor without acquiring fame, glory, or power.
The Old Adam wants praise.
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