Edmund’s initial attraction to Mary caused him to dwell on thoughts of her, in his mind building her into something she was not while ignoring all evidence to the contrary. It caused him to excuse her irreverent ideas and to defend her questionable conduct, finally leading him into behavior that ran contrary to his own better judgment. He slighted faithful Fanny, joined the dubious acting scheme, and nearly proposed marriage to Mary before his eyes were, thankfully, opened at the last moment.
You’ve probably heard the saying, “Garbage in; garbage out,” suggesting that when we put junk into our minds, we shouldn’t be surprised if that’s what later comes out through what we say and do. I remember noticing as early as my teen years how much my mood was affected by what I had been reading or the music I listened to. A depressing book left me feeling down long afterward. Music had the power to either soothe, agitate, energize, or uplift me.
In this wired and networked world, we are routinely bombarded by powerful messages and images – ads cleverly designed to influence our spending habits, news slanted to shape what we believe about the world, entertainment made more and more sensational to capture and hold our interest. Although everyone may not be equally suggestible, a steady diet of one kind of material or another cannot help but change the way we think, and therefore how we speak and behave.
We do have some choice in the matter, however. We can be wise, discerning consumers, aware of the potential dangers and judicious in choosing what we watch, read, and listen to (especially where our highly vulnerable children are concerned). What does God have to say on the subject?
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think on these things. (Philippians 4:6-8)
At first I was only going to quote verse 8 (one of my favorites) on how we are to direct our thought lives. But then I realized that what comes before is just as important because it tells us that God himself will guard our hearts and minds with His peace. That’s what we’re talking about here – guarding our hearts and minds against being drawn into the evil around us, against taking that first step down the slippery slope that leads to destruction.
Toward that end, we’re told to take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). We’re told to spend time in prayer, praise, and dwelling on what’s true, noble, right, pure, and lovely. What fits that description better than Jesus Christ and the Word of God? Let us dwell on these things instead of what the world and its ruler offer us. Good stuff in; good stuff out!
I wonder if Jane Austen had Philippians 4:8 in mind when she chose the kind of novels she would write (and consequently where her mind would dwell for weeks and months on end). She steps in at the end of Mansfield Park to give us this similar thought: Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery. I quit such odious subjects as soon as I can…
Let Us Pray
Holy God, you have promised to keep us in perfect peace when our minds are fixed on you. Guard us against the harmful influences around us that threaten to disturb that peace. And teach us to be wise in what we allow into our minds and the minds of our children. Help us to dwell richly on you and your word so that what we say and do also reflects our love for you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Let Us Praise
My heart is steadfast, O God; I will sing and make music with all my soul. Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn. I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples. For great is your love, higher than the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies. (Psalms 108:1-4)
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Holy and Awesome God
Have we thought irreverently of Thee?
There are several Austen characters whom we might suspect irreverent based on their behavior. But when it comes to open irreverence in opinions of the church and the clergy (and by extension, of God himself), there is one obvious choice: Mary Crawford. Mansfield Park is strewn with her disparaging remarks on the subject as her interest in Edmund Bertram clashes with her disdain for his intended profession.
“A clergyman is nothing… No doubt he is very sincere in preferring an income ready made, to the trouble of working for one; and has the best intentions of doing nothing all the rest of his days but eat, drink, and grow fat. It is indolence, Mr. Bertram, indeed. Indolence and love of ease – a want of laudable ambition, of taste for good company, or of inclination to take the trouble of being agreeable, which make men clergymen. A clergyman has nothing to do but to be slovenly and selfish – read the newspaper, watch the weather, and quarrel with his wife. His curate does all the work, and the business of his own life is to dine.” (Mansfield Park, chapter 9 & 11)
Wow! Don’t hold back, Mary. Tell us what you really think!
Unfortunately, Mary was not altogether wrong. In that time and place, a lot of men did choose the church for the wrong reason – as a genteel profession providing a guaranteed income instead of because they felt a true calling from God. Many collected the money the living (or sometimes more than one) provided, and hired underling curates to do the actual work. They (and Mary) should have had more respect for the office and especially for the holy God they presumed to represent.
Reverence, even for God, can be a difficult concept to relate to in our increasingly informal world. Most of us don’t have to bow or curtsy our way through life. We don’t normally need to be concerned with order of precedence or using proper formal titles. We dress and behave casually when and where we can. We have been taught to believe we are just as good as the next person and to voice our opinions openly. We probably even feel entitled to criticize those holding the highest offices in the land. (Although people who want to be treated with respect themselves must be willing to respect others as well, even those with whom they disagree.)
People deserve our respect; true reverence is reserved for God.
As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:9)
God’s nature is complex – too far above us to fully grasp with our finite minds. How can God be one god but at the same time three persons? How do we reconcile God’s absolutely unconditional love for people with his equally uncompromising wrath against the sins we commit? The fact that the creator of the universe stooped down to take the form of a man, to die on the cross for us, that he cares about our everyday concerns, is incomprehensible. And yet we accept it by faith.
The temptation, though, is to focus only on one side of God’s character, the more comforting side – that he loves us, that Jesus is our best friend, that the Holy Spirit lives to intercede for us. These things are true and important, but they form an incomplete picture. By limiting our view of God in this way, we can lose sight of God’s majesty. By forgetting God’s awesome power to destroy as well as create, we may not remember to hold him in sufficient awe. By minimizing God’s position of absolute authority, the respect we show him may be diminished as well. As today’s prayer excerpt reminds us, we may be in danger of thinking irreverently of him.
If we are ever tempted to treat God too casually, question his right to rule, or think we could do a better job, he might very well direct us to his words in Job.
“Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone, while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?” (Job 38:2-7)
Only God has done these things. Therefore, only he is
qualified to be in control, not just because he is all-powerful but also because he is wise and good beyond measure. He knows what he is doing!
The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the LORD are sure and altogether righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb. By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. (Psalms 19:7-11)
We serve a holy and awesome God! He is God, and we are not; that’s good news. Hallelujah! How fortunate we are that he, not any one of us fatally flawed human beings, is in charge of the universe, and especially that he loves and cares for each of us. May we always remember to be grateful and to give God the reverence he deserves.
Let Us Pray
Holy and awesome God, we worship you for your beautiful character – all sides of it. Thank you that we can call you our friend, but help us to never lose sight of or fail to rejoice in your majesty as well. Grant this through our Lord Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen.
Let Us Praise
Ascribe to the LORD, O mighty ones, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness. (Psalms 29:1-2)
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Loaves and Fishes
…have we dis-obeyed thy Commandments, have we neglected any known Duty, or willingly given pain to any human Being?
We may feel pretty good about ourselves when we check the Ten Commandments. After all, most of us haven’t murdered anybody or committed adultery, at least not according to the simple letter of the law. In an average day, we probably haven’t even willingly given pain to any human being. But as our prayer petition reminds us, that’s only half the story; it’s also sin to have neglected any known duty. That’s the other side of the same coin: the sins of omission, which are less obvious.
Similarly, when we consider Austen’s characters, it’s easy enough to spot their sins of commission: Lydia’s bad behavior with Wickham, Mrs. Norris’s cruelty to Fanny, even Captain Wentworth’s toying with the affection of the Musgrove girls, and so on. Their sins of omission are more difficult to identify or even to define. Was it sin when Mr. Bennet didn’t prevent Lydia from going to Brighton as he probably should have? When exactly did Sir Walter Elliot officially neglect his duty to manage his family finances?
For illustration purposes, though, I think I’m going to pick on Mr. and Mrs. John Dashwood again.
Mrs. John Dashwood did not at all approve of what her husband intended to do for his sisters. To take three thousand pounds from the fortune of their dear little boy, would be impoverishing him to the most dreadful degree. She begged him to think again on the subject. (Sense and Sensibility, chapter 2)
You know what follows. By increments and degrees, Fanny Dashwood talks her husband down to the point where he agrees that all that is required to fulfill his promise to his father is to help his newly impoverished relations move out of his house and occasionally thereafter to send them some small present of game or fish. Fanny’s sin is one of commission, setting out to deliberately sabotage her husband’s good intentions. John Dashwood’s sin of omission is obvious too, since he clearly failed to do anything at all.
But at what point was his failure enough of an omission to become sin? That’s what’s difficult to define. If he had stuck to his first plan, would he have been acquitted? If he had followed through on his second proposal (giving only half as much) or even his third (one hundred per year to Mrs. Dashwood) would that have been enough to discharge his promise and absolve him of guilt? How about when we give a little money to some charitable cause, but not as much as we could have? Are we neglecting our duty or fulfilling it? It’s all shades of gray.
The Bible is full of admonitions that we are to help those in need and be generous to the poor. But how much is enough? Perhaps you already tithe, and maybe the accountant who does your taxes is duly impressed with your charitable giving total. God has much higher standards, though.
Jesus replied, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40)
Only Jesus loved like this. Only he kept these commandments perfectly, sacrificing his life in obedience to the Father’s will so we could be saved. Only he fulfilled all the requirements of the Law and the Prophets. All we can do is be grateful and emulate Jesus as closely as possible.
As for John Dashwood, even the three thousand pounds he originally intended to give would not have measured up to loving his neighbor (in this case, his stepmother and half-sisters) as much as he loved himself. But he would have done well if he had first prayed for God’s guidance in how he should fulfill his duty and then followed through in doing it, despite his wife’s complaints. He would have done well to listen to his own piece of wisdom on the subject: “One had rather, on such occasions, do too much than too little.”
Doing too much? Is that possible for anyone? Considering the size and scope of the daunting social issues that confront us (crime, poverty, homelessness, disease, addiction, immorality, injustice, etc.) or even the problems in our own lives, it often seems unlikely that anything we can do will make much of a difference at all, let alone be more than what is needed. It’s overwhelming.
I think of the disciples when they were charged with the task of feeding the five thousand (Mark 6). They were overwhelmed also. The problem was too big; it seemed impossible. In spite of that, though, they were obedient to Jesus’ command to begin distributing what little they had. In so doing, they gained the privilege of witnessing God at work as he multiplied the loaves and fishes until there was not only enough; there was literally too much – twelve basketfuls over and above what was needed. The disciples were blessed, not only to witness the miracle but also to participate in it.
When God calls us to do something – especially something that seems unachievable – let’s first remember that with God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26). Instead of talking ourselves out of it or being overwhelmed by the size of the task, let us simply be obedient to God’s call and begin. Let us offer what we have to God and invite him to multiply our loaves and fishes as he chooses.
Let Us Pray
Mighty God, your hand is strong and your wonders never cease. Help us to serve you faithfully – listening to the Spirit’s leading, giving generously of our time and resources, willingly going where you send us, and joyfully doing whatever work you call us to undertake. Make us always mindful of the privilege of being used for your glory, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Let Us Praise
They lay their crowns before the throne and say, “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” (Revelation 4:10b-11)
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Pride and Vanity
Incline us to ask our Hearts these questions Oh! God, and save us from deceiving ourselves by Pride or Vanity.
Reading the words vanity and pride together, does your mind, like mine, go straight to a certain contentious conversation between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy? But looking again, I discovered that Mary Bennet is the real expert on this subject:
“Pride,” observed Mary, who piqued herself upon the solidity of her reflections, “is a very common failing, I believe. By all that I have ever read, I am convinced that it is very common indeed; that human nature is particularly prone to it, and that there are very few of us who do not cherish a feeling of self-complacency on the score of some quality or other, real or imaginary. Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are
often used synonymously… Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us.” (Pride and Prejudice, chapter 5)
In today’s petition, Jane Austen warns that the failings of pride and vanity are particularly dangerous. Why? Because these weaknesses have the power to deceive us, to prevent us from seeing ourselves and our behavior for what they truly are.
I’m sure when Mary Bennet passed along her wisdom on the subject of pride, she believed she did so with appropriate humility. After all, her deep knowledge of the problem must have caused her to be on guard against falling into that trap herself, right? On the contrary; Mary is among the deceived. Jane Austen’s gift for irony is on full display here. With the preamble that Mary piqued herself upon the solidity of her reflections, Austen subtly lets her readers know that the person cautioning us against the prevalence of pride is herself one of its many victims.
Nevertheless, what Mary says is true. The sin of pride is common. Human nature is especially prone to it. Few if any completely escape its effects. And people sometimes only imagine they are superior in some way. But I especially appreciate the reminder that a person can be guilty of sinful pride even when their superiority is real. Paranoia is only paranoia if there isn’t actually somebody out to get you, but pride is pride either way.
God gives many good gifts to his children (James 1:17), and there are people who truly have been blessed with exceptional beauty, personality, talent, wisdom, courage, faith, etc. Many of these and other gifts can be viewed as necessary tools to accomplish what God has assigned a person to do in this life. If he has ordained that someone is to preach effectively, relieve human suffering, advance scientific knowledge, entertain or inspire people, nurture children, or whatever, we shouldn’t wonder that he also equips them to do it!
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