Ordo Amorie

Quite often in my brief journey of leadership I have found myself trying to explain things for which I just do not have enough insight or depth of wisdom to put as well as I would like. A case and point has just been proven to me again whilst doing some reading regarding Small Group leader- what you must look for in them.

I have always tried to intimate that at the root of all that can be said and done about growth in faith etc. the key is something seated deep in the heart, an absolute devotion to Christ. Well today while reading an author quoted another author who referred to something that St. Augustine (the great Western Church thinker) wrote of. Here is the quote

"Whatever its characteristics, every one of us has a spirituality, what Augustine called an ordo amorie, an ordering of our loves. What do we most cherish? What do we most desire? What is the treasure hidden in the core of our being? Our spirituality is not what we profess to believe, but how we order our loves." -- Margaret Guenther

Augustine had it spot on! Growing in faith, being a faithful servant to your church or beyond, touching this world for the cause of the gospel of the Kingdom is not dependent on input, who you hung out with, how much you read, who you knew (it is about each of these things yes but...) it is thoroughly dependent on the order of your loves. What is our first love?

WHAT DO WE LOVE ULTIMATELY?

Simon