Meditate | Maybe I'm not so busy...
Brian Smith | Friday, July 27, 2012 Meditate is a monthly column in which insights gained from meditating on the Word are shared. You could write for Meditate, too! Contact us if you'd like to write a submission for this column. This week Brian Smith is our guest writer. -Editor.
I'm busy right now, which makes a meditative approach to revelation much harder to come by. But I've been reading over Divine Love and Wisdom 333 and 334 a couple times and thinking about the seeming conflict between receiving life as a gift from the Lord and working within the appearance that we are responsible for everything we achieve.
The things we typically try to achieve – food, clothing, shelter, recreation and enjoyment – are all mirrors of what are called the the “uses of religion and worship.” The text says that all the uses of religion and worship “are given by the Lord according to the acknowledgment that all the bodily things are also from the Lord, and that man is only a servant and domestic administrator appointed over the goods of his Lord.” (Divine Love and Wisdom 334)
Wondering about the inspiration for this article? Look up the New Church, which is based on the theological writings of Emanuel Swedenborg.