K01 But I didn't DO anything. Wrong!

Avoiding sinful acts is not enough.

Obedience to Christ requires positive deeds: “Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is a sin” (1) There’s a name for this – a ‘sin of omission.’ A bit of a misnomer, as failing to act is a choice, hence is itself a commission. “From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they have entrusted much, of him [God] will ask all the more.” (2)

We all know about Jonah’s punishment. Fearful of the mission he’d been given, he tried to flee. Only after the harsh reminder of God’s will did he reluctantly fulfill it. The history of Israel’s kings failing to suppress idolatry is sadly consistent.

Dante (3) imagines the “indecisive” in a rushing crowd of miserable souls, racing around the first circle of hell but admitted neither there, nor to heaven. The great mass of those “who lived without blame, and without praise...who were not rebellious, nor were faithful to God; but were for themselves.” Among them Dante recognizes Pope Celestine V: “I saw and knew the shadow of him who from cowardice made the great refusal .” Elected Pope in1294, he abdicated in five months, failing to reform the corrupt church when able to do so. (4)

The failures that made the Laodicean church repulsive to God seem of this nature:

“I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot...because you are lukewarm...I will spew you out of my mouth.” (5) Believing themselves in no need of repentance, they fail utterly to be fruitful believers. If ardent in the faith, God would rejoice in them. If cold, God could evangelize them. They are stagnant. They make God nauseous!

What is God’s will for me today? That I should love the Lord my God with all my heart, with all my souls, and with all my might. (6)

My prayer today: Loving Father, let me not go through today content in avoiding failure, but intent on performing the acts of obedience to which you have called me. Let me heed the prompting of the spirit. Give me the strength to be not neutral, but good. (7)

(1) James 4:17. See Johnn MacArthur “Commentary on James,” Moody Press 1998

(2) Luke 12:48.

(3) My ancient copy of Dante Alighieri, “The Divine Comedy,” the Carlyle-Wicksteed translation, Modern Library, 1932. Canto III.

(4) Kellogg, M.C., “The Wisdom of the Middle Ages,” Prometheus Books 2016

(5) Revelation 3:15-16

(6) The Shema, see Chabad.org if unfamiliar to you. You can read it in English and hear it spoken and sung in Hebrew on this web site.

(7) Thomas Aquinas identified ‘recusatio tensionis,’ evading a task, within one’s capacity

10/5/2024