Thursday 11 February

Deut.30:15-20, Ps.1; Luke 9:22-25

More Than Obedience

The Old Covenant required obedience to God’s “Commandments, his laws, and his customs” (Deut 30: 16). The New Covenant requires much more than mere obedience. It requires our participation in the very death and resurrection of Jesus. It requires a total giving of oneself to God, way beyond mere rule-keeping. It challenges us to “Lose your life” for Christ’s sake, to “Take up your cross” and follow Jesus (Luke 9: 23). Through the Spirit, Christ desires to make his home in us so that we can say, with St Paul, “It is no longer I who lives but Christ that lives in me.”