Scot I liked the old look better! Oh well, guess I have to get used to some change.

Do we really want to know the levels we will go to in order not to live a “With-God” life?

About sloth, I think it depends on your cultural background. I know Koreans who will, quite literally, work themselves to death. There needs to be a balance

It almost seems the sin of sloth is a flipside response to the sin of pride as it’s being presented here. If we are not motivated by self promotion in some way, our motivation to seriously engage kicks in and we become lazy and indifferent. And sometimes we see the most activity going on in churches where we are as invested in promoting ourselves and our agenda rather than Christ and his glory. I confess to walk in humility AND be fully engaged as a following disciples of Jesus and for his kingdom is difficult. We must receive the Grace to “will and do his good pleasure” in a world that desperately needs us.

“Lying to ourselves is more deeply ingrained than lying to others.”
-Fyodor Dostoyevsky
If I think of all inside me that still wants to lie, that still wants others to come to harm, I can pray the “cursing psalms” about myself. Not that I want all that terrible stuff to happen to me, but a) that I realize I’m no better than those who wrote them, b) that I am so grateful for God’s mercy and life, and c) that God and I both want better for me, and that is the goal toward which we are both working.
I do have trouble getting off my duff and moving, though.
Dana

It is hard to make a balance between accepting grace and accepting growth. It seems that the pursuit of greatness is a path that many fear because it forces one to not be content with who they are and in turn provides a situation in which grace is not understood or received. On the other hand, to simply be content with oneself by accepting a belief that God takes us as we are cheapens our ability to fully embrace who we are made to be. This in turn can distort the call that God places on us.

Hmmmmm.. . this brings to mind Irenaeus’s idea that “the glory of God is man fully alive”. I think we often have it backwards when it comes to humility and pride. Denying our own status as image bearers, downplaying our gifts and generally denigrating ourselves is not humility, but a grievous insult to God who made us, died and rose for us and delights in us. Real humility comes from realizing that the source of our glory is God and not ourselves. Then our glory can glorify God. But denying it out of sloth and false humility is not Godly in the least. Yet the church seems to be very good at enforcing this false humility.

I guess the real question is…
What do we expect when we make the bedrock of our spirituality the maxim that “there is nothing we can do”?
It seems that that preceding commitment destroys “spiritual initiative” to cooperate with the life of God.

Hmmm… posting a comment about sloth four days later than the initial blog. I was away from the computer all weekend and very Thankful.
It was interesting to read this chapter in conjunction with my other current reading, Miroslav Volf’s “Exclusion and Embrace.” Scot’s comment about racism struck a chord with me, and the observation Norris makes could easily have fit into Volf’s work. Volf spends quite a bit of time discussing our ability to think of the Other as barbarians, uncivilized, savages, etc., all the while separating ourselves from their sin and destructiveness. Perhaps our incredulity at racism is fed by creating an image of racists that is obviously Other so that we don’t get lumped in with it, and then we shudder when a chink in our armor is highlighted.