September 20
A major characteristic of those who have not
learned something different through the Gospels
is that each lives for himself. This, of course, is
also the origin of sin, because the serpent
deluded man into thinking that if he ate of the
forbidden fruit he would be like God. In other
words, man could live his own life and not have
to bother so much about whether his will
conformed to God's will. Since that time man
has gone his own way, purposely ignoring not
only those around him when he so desired, but
even our beloved God himself.
If we stop to think about it, we will realize that
there is nothing more harmful than living for
ourselves, always looking at ourselves, thinking
about ourselves, with no concern about anything
else. How sad it is to see a number of people
together, and all of them acting as if they were
the only one alive and as though no one else
had the right to live.
Christ had to help us out of this sad situation.
He did not live and die for himself, but lived for
all and died for all. In this he showed each one
of us that our only help lies in getting away
from ourselves and uniting with others.
Johann Christoph Blumhardt, from
The Proclamation, Not for Themselves.
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A PRAYER FOR TODAY
Blumhardt's prayer for today and every day of the year.
http://blumhardts.com/bl/DailyPrayer.htm?source=Breakfast
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