![]() ![]() Thérèse’s point was not to encourage us to stay stuck in some kind of stunted development, but to remain in a state of total dependence. Where does maturity come into play if we are staying small? Scripture admonishes us to “grow up in every way” and to not be “infants, tossed back and forth” (Eph. Initially, the Little Way sounds as if it goes against everything young Christians are taught about healthy discipleship. Image: Illustration by Mallory Rentsch / Source Images: WikiMedia Commons She focused on all the verses that portray God caring for the small and humble-like Matthew 18:3: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” It was a radical departure from the rigid moralism of her time. After much prayer and reflection on Scripture, she developed what she came to call “the Little Way.” Unable to find any method of alleviating her mental distress, Thérèse concluded she needed a fundamentally different approach to God. She tried performing severe acts of self-punishment to counter what was happening in her mind, but the effort provided no comfort to her conscience. If anybody exemplified diligently working to put on their own armor, it was Thérèse.ĭespite her devotion, uncontrollable doubts and fears haunted her. Carmelites maintain a very strict lifestyle, praying for long hours every day, enduring very ascetic conditions, and observing complete silence for extended periods. She received her education in a Benedictine school, then went on to become a Carmelite nun. She was about as thoroughly religious as someone can be. ![]() Thérèse was born in the late 19th century. In his book exploring OCD and faith, Ian Osborn shares the story of Thérèse of Lisieux. The alternative to being responsible is not being irresponsible-it is trusting God with the responsibility, the way a child trusts a parent with their care. Martin Luther addressed the fallacy of such thinking: “This attitude springs from a false conception of sin, the conception that sin is a small matter, easily taken care of by good works that we must present ourselves unto God with a good conscience that we must feel no sin before we may feel that Christ was given for our sins.” ![]() #Armor of gid full#He went to the cross precisely because we are all incapable of taking full responsibility for our own sin. My attempts to fully own my sin end up competing with my ability to accept what Christ did on my behalf. The more I dissect my confessions, the less adequate they seem, pulling me further down the rabbit hole of introspection. I am unable to discern my true motivations with certainty. Pursuing the path of taking “full responsibility” for my sin only pushes me toward despair, because I find that the problem is deeper and more pervasive in me than I can begin to address (“Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me”-Romans 7:21). The very self-admonishment I equate with holiness is in fact distorting my perception of God. It never occurs to me in the midst of all the soul-scrubbing that perhaps part of what God desires for me is freedom from the self-loathing and cruel harshness that tries to pass itself off as making me more like him. Pulling the lid off of my soul felt like staring into a bottomless cauldron of horrors. I scrape my mind for any residue of wrong that might need to be confessed and eradicated, only to discover new twisted layers underneath. I review not just my actions but every internal agenda, and I come to the same conclusion as Jeremiah: The heart is a convoluted mess (Jer. That sounds ultraspiritual, but it is more fear-driven than pious. One of my greatest recurring anxieties is the possibility that I might in some way not be taking my sin seriously enough. They are predominantly calls to action, the instructional sections that mapped out an identifiable way for me to feel I was doing enough to satisfy God. ![]() Flipping through the pages now, I see a common thread in the passages I singled out. I underlined a number of verses during those formative years of adolescence. I have a Bible from my youth, one I purchased for myself when I was in middle school. ![]()
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