Lent with the Early Church Fathers Day 5

Day 5

Lent with the Early Church Fathers

A daily post from Tom Bandy 

Based on Day by Day with the Early Church Fathers (Eds. Christopher D. Hudson, J. Alan Sharrer, and Lindsay Vanker: Hendrickson Press, 1999) 

Temple of God 

Lactantius 

We should bring sacrifices to God through our words since God said he is the Word. Therefore, the supreme act of worshiping God is praise from the mouth of a righteous person. However, to be accepted by God there must be humility, fear, and devotion to the greatest degree. If people place confidence in their own integrity and innocence, they will be charged with pride and arrogance and lose the reward of their morality.  

Pray for nothing other than pardon for your sins, even if you don’t have any. If you want anything else, there is no need to express it in words to the one who knows what we wish. If good happens to you, give thanks. If any evil, make amends and confess that the evil has happen because of your own faults. Even in evils give thanks and make amends in good times, so that you can do the same at all times. Be firm, unchangeable, and unshaken. Don’t suppose that these things are to be done only in the temple, but at home and even in your bed. In short always have God with you and devote your heart to him since you are a temple of God. 

TGB: There are many reasons why we can pray, but there is only one reason why we must pray, and that is to seek forgiveness. Everything else God already knows, and cares and his spirit is moving whether or not we are aware of it or ask for it. Forgiveness, however, requires confession. That is the one thing we must initiate. And forgiveness is the one thing we must believe and not just assume.