7 July 2020
Obedience and Subjection
IT
IS a very great thing to obey, to live under a superior and not to be one’s own
master, for it is much safer to be subject than it is to command. Many live in
obedience more from necessity than from love. Such become discontented and
dejected on the slightest pretext; they will never gain peace of mind unless
they subject themselves wholeheartedly for the love of God.
Go
where you may, you will find no rest except in humble obedience to the rule of
authority. Dreams of happiness expected from change and different places have
deceived many.
Everyone,
it is true, wishes to do as he pleases and is attracted to those who agree with
him. But if God be among us, we must at times give up our opinions for the
blessings of peace.
Furthermore,
who is so wise that he can have full knowledge of everything? Do not trust too
much in your own opinions, but be willing to listen to those of others. If,
though your own be good, you accept another’s opinion for love of God, you will
gain much more merit; for I have often heard that it is safer to listen to advice
and take it than to give it. It may happen, too, that while one’s own opinion
may be good, refusal to agree with others when
Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, p14
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