Last month I reviewed God With Us. In that book, several devotions from Augustine of Hippo’s City of God appear. Prior to reading God With Us, I had not read St. Augustine’s work. I found a series of contrasts he listed interesting and worth pondering. Perhaps you will as well.

• And just as doctors, when they bind up wounds, do it carefully, and neatly, so as not to cause further discomfort, so Jesus by His assumption of humanity adapted to our wounds, our suffering, our helplessness.
• Seeing, then, that humanity fell through pride, Jesus restores them through humility.
• We were ensnared by the “wisdom” of the serpent; we are set free by the “foolishness” of God.
• We used our immortality so badly as to incur the penalty of death; Christ used His mortality so well as to restore us to life.
• To the same class of opposites, it belongs that our sins are cured by His sinless sacrifice.
• He came as a man to save us who are human; as a mortal to save us who are mortals; and by death to save us who were spiritually dead.
• The Maker of humans became Man
• that He the Bread of Life, might be hungry;
• that He, the Eternal Fountain, might thirst;
• that He, the Way, might be wearied by the journey;
• that He, the Truth, might be accused by false witnesses;
• that He, the Judge of the living and the dead, might be brought to trial by a mortal judge;
• that He, the true Justice, might be condemned by the unjust;
• that He, the innocent, might be scourged with whips;
• that He, the King of kings, might be crowned with thorns;
• that He, our foundation, might be suspended upon a cross;
• that Strength might know weakness;
• that the Healer might be wounded;
• that the Giver of Life might die.
• He was made human through a human mother, whom He himself had made, so that He might exist here for a while, for our sakes.

Are you familiar with St. Augustine’s work? Is there something he wrote you would add to our series of contrasts?

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David was looking into the future and speaking of the Messiah’s resurrection. He was saying that God would not leave him among the dead or allow his body to rot in the grave.

“God raised Jesus from the dead, and we are all witnesses of this.  Now he is exalted to the place of highest honor in heaven, at God’s right hand. And the Father, as he had promised, gave him the Holy Spirit to pour out upon us, just as you see and hear today. For David himself never ascended into heaven, yet he said,

‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies, making them a footstool under your feet.”’ Acts 31-35 (NLT)

You can find my February Inspire a Fire post here. Please stop by and read it.

I wish you well.

Sandy

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