From My Commonplace: Chief, Saviour, Friend, King

Today I will share one last quote from Charlotte Mason's Ourselves.  This from the final chapter:

 

"One thing we must hold fast – a clear conception of what is meant by Christianity.  It is not 'being good' or serving our fellows: many who do not own the sovereignty of Christ are better than we who do.  But the Christian is aware of Jesus as an ever-present Saviour, at hand in all dangers and necessities; of Christ as the King whose he is and whom he serves, who rules his destinies and apportions his duties.  It is a great thing to be owned, and Jesus Christ owns us.  He is our Chief, whom we delight to honor and serve; and He is our Saviour, who delivers us, our Friend who cherishes us, our King who blesses us with His dominion.  Christianity would only appear to be possible when there is a full recognition of the divinity of Christ.   Let us cry with St. Augustine: 'Take my heart! For I cannot give it Thee: Keep it! For I cannot keep it for Thee.'"

 

~Charlotte Mason, Ourselves

 

Oh, how I wish I had realized this truth earlier in my life.  I grew up with the impression that being a Christian meant asking Jesus into your heart and being good girl, and it is only just in the past five years or so that I have realized that there is far more to it than that.  I am learning to be dazzled by His beauty and His love and His grace and mercy towards such a one as me, and delight to honor and serve Him rather than do so out of a sense of obligation or because it was what I thought was expected of me.  It is my fervent prayer that my children will come to realize this truth while they are still young. 

 

I can't wait to read and discuss this book with them when they are teenagers.

 

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My Bookbag This Week:

Devotional: Revelation, with a commentary The Final Word (Wilmshurst)

Theological or Christian Living: Age of Opportunity (Tripp)

Book Discussion Group Titles: Idylls of the King (Tennyson), Watership Down (Adams)

Great Book: Inferno (Dante)

On Education: How to Read a Book (Adler), Beauty for Truth's Sake (Caldecott)

Topics of Special Interest: The New World (Churchill)

Novel/Biography/Memoir: Nicholas Nickelby (Dickens)

Read-Alouds with the Children: On the Banks of Plum Creek (Wilder), The Silver Chair (Lewis), Eric Liddell: Something Greater Than Gold (Benge), The Milly Molly Mandy Story Book (Brisley)

 

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