Devotions from Margaret Silf’s book, Wayfaring

We are all encrusted with distortions of evil that come between us and our true self and cause us much pain. We can choose whether or not we want to remain enslaved or if we want to own these tendencies and acknowledge them in light of His grace.  We are good at deceiving ourselves into living as if we were self-sufficient and use all kinds of ways to defend our illusions and compulsions. But like Jesus said in John 12:24 our ego-selves need to fall into the ground and die that we can be eternally free.  But so often we would rather build defense systems and use lesser goods to fill the emptiness inside of us. This cascade of deception and illusion affects everything we do as individuals, and our individual choices and actions also affect others.  A dysfunction in any part of the body ultimately affects others too.  We can ask ourselves in what specific ways have I chosen “my kingdom” during the past few days, and put out of my mind the possible effects of my choice on others?  Do I shift the blame for my faults on others? To choose to let God free us requires a radical reappraisal of ourselves, and we need to  allow Him to transform us.  The journey with the Lord is a journey into love and freedom.