February 19 – The Birthright

Although few if any of us will ever know the inside of a convent, all of us may reside within the Kingdom of God and make it the monastery of our hearts. This is our birthright; there is nowhere else to be, when we are in Christ.

“The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.” (Romans 14:17, KJV) Here is God’s “rule,” for our heart’s enclosure. This is the message and the intent and the hope of Cor Unum, the glory of every Christian, that as we have been given to abide in Christ, we will cherish that birthright, holding it fast, living out the RIGHTEOUSNESS, PEACE and JOY of God.

We looked briefly into the life and practice of Frank Laubach, who took hold of the Lord, never to let Him go, to talk with Him and speak from His heart, to look steadfastly upon Him and to look upon the world through His eyes. We sat down at the ten Boom table, as Caspar ten Boom came downstairs for breakfast, already aglow with the love and presence of the Lord God, ready for the day, ever bringing others with him into the nearness of the Lord, through the Scripture, through his prayers and kindness, through the constant practice and habit of righteousness and the meekness of Jesus Christ.

We will visit within the walls of many other “abbeys” of personal devotion and meet many other marketplace monastics as we journey together in Cor Unum, but for today, let us remember and let us be sure that wherever we may be, whatever our calling, whatever tribulation we face, no matter the siege mounds that have been built up against us or the storms that come, we are those who, like Jacob, love the birthright. For us, if God is giving it, if it is available in His Son, we will have it.

Frank Laubach made a decision to walk with God and never turned back; when he could not keep pace with Jesus, he kept Him in his sight. Caspar ten Boom ordered his life so that he might never find himself at any distance from the love of God. His daughter Corrie cut ties with the life she had known and set sail to tell the world all she knew of the depth of God’s love.

We in Cor Unum will learn from all of these and many others. We will hold on to the Lord, and order our lives in the worship and the obedience of Christ. We will make the love of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ the ship in which we sail, the monastery where we dwell in the love of God, and we will progress by every means, by decision, discipleship, determination, denouncing dismay and declaring the delights of all that is ours through the death and resurrection of the Son of God. We will have it! . . . the “all” that is ours in Jesus, our Savior and Lord.


"Cloisters, Cloisters Everywhere"
photo by Kerry