Why is it that Christians seem so little different than men of the world? And why is it that we make so many bad choices? In City of God, Augustine reiterates what the bible teaches, that as long as we sojourn in the world the Church will be intermixed with those who will not in fact be in heaven, with those who seem to be wheat but are in fact tares (or weeds for you younger generations).
“But let this city bear in mind, that among her enemies lie hid those who are destined to be fellow-citizens, that she may not think it a fruitless labour to bear what they inflict as enemies until they become confessors of the faith. So, too, as long as she is a stranger in the world, the city of God has in her communion, and bound to her by the sacraments, some who shall not eternally dwell in the lot of the saints” (City of God, Book I.35).
This is a warning to us that we are to confirm our calling and not grow weary of doing good. More so, we must not grow complacent in attending to our calling.
It strikes me that I would be a far different man if I did not confuse these two things:
- That I may be a Christian who is thinking
- Thinking as a Christian.
The former counts for very little. It is the latter which we are to strive for. We are to test every thought, bringing it captive to Jesus. If we trust ourselves to think rightly, simply by the fact that we profess to be Christians, we have already wandered from God. Our confidence is godward.
