Tuesday, June 16, 2009

The Dilemmna of Duty

It seems to me that the puritans placed high value on duty. It also seems that modern Christianity does not see the value and delight of duty as the puritans did. For example, consider a quote I came across on Tony Reinke's blog Miscellanies and a quote by Jeremiah Burroughs from The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment.

From Miscellanies:

“A perfect man would never act from a sense of duty; he’d always want the right thing more than the wrong one. Duty is only a substitute for love (of God and of other people) like a crutch which is a substitute for a leg. Most of us need the crutch at times; but of course it is idiotic to use the crutch when our own legs (our own loves, tastes, habits, etc.) can do the journey on their own.” —C.S. Lewis, Letters, 18 July 1957.


From A Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment:

"We should prize duty more highly than to be distracted by every trivial occasion. Indeed, a Christian values every service of God so much that though some may be in the eyes of the world and of natural reason a slight and empty business, beggarly elements, or foolishness, yet since God calls for it, the authority of the command so overawes his heart that he is willing to spend himself and to be spent in discharging it."


This is one topic I would like to investigate further.

1 comment:

  1. One of the definitions from dictionary.com is "the binding or obligatory force of something that is morally or legally right". I think 'binding' and 'force' are both words that don't fit well with the nature of grace and salvation.

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