Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. Colossians 4:2
“In the Middle Ages life itself imposed an unvarying rule of living. Is man now to live without a rule? A thousand moral and religious questions start up and cry out for an answer. Things have become possible now which were not possible before. Men and women can spend their lives in an unvarying round of amusements and excitements, even without supposing them to seek vicious pleasures. Theatres, operas, balls, novels—things unknown to their ancestors—may make up their life. Is this right? Is it safe? A most momentous question this, which requires an answer. Here is a new thing upon earth, or at least a state of things which has not existed since the Teutonic nations were converted—the upper classes of society able to live in a constant round of amusement, and thinking themselves satisfactorily sure of salvation, because of the hypothetical absence of great sin. Are unlimited balls and unlimited sacraments compatible? Or is a worldly life a perilous one for those who live it? Or rather ought not Christians to spend more time in prayer, in devotion, in voluntary almsgiving and works of charity, in proportion as they are set free from many duties? Is not life more dangerous and salvation more insecure because of this terrible invasion of the world, with audacious requirements and unblushing exigencies? Considering the cool impudence with which the world insists on his own innocence, nay, has even the impertinence to look upon its general mode of life as a duty to society, it does seem as if this new attitude of the world called for new rules and a greater strictness to counteract its dangers. Now, The Scale or Ladder of Perfection is valuable because it is an English book containing an answer to this question.”
Walter Hilton (1340-1396) in “An Essay on the Spiritual Life of Mediaeval England” as a preface to The Scale or Ladder of Perfection (Grand Rapids: CCEL) 31.
This excerpt from the preface to Hilton’s classic work marks not only a fresh find but contains wise counsel for us.
He’s writing this in the late 1300’s and it sounds like what someone might write in the present day. People fill their lives with “theatres, operas, balls, novels” and more and so life has become, in a word, worldly.
And I think wisdom is found in this key sentence in the latter portion of this post.
“Or rather ought not Christians to spend more time in prayer, in devotion, in voluntary almsgiving and works of charity, in proportion as they are set free from many duties?”
The more people obey God and flourish, the more he often blesses spiritually and materially. Should we keep the blessing to ascend to the upper classes and to “live in a constant round of amusement.” I think not.
Let’s actually aim higher. Let’s aim higher the squandering resources on senseless things that won’t satisfy.
Let’s focus together on prayer, devotion, voluntary almsgiving, and works of charity. That means trusting God to care for us and not ourselves, while devoting ourselves to obedience, caring, and sharing.
It’s counterintuitive, which is why most people miss this path. For greater insight, enjoy Hilton’s classic work.