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spirituality more than mysticism


I'm working may way through the letters of Francis Schaeffer.  The rich advice in these letters is given with such warm (and very human) concern. This volume is very helpful in bringing Schaeffer's spiritual life principles to bear upon real people with real problems.   


In one letter he responds to a friend who placed a lot of emphasis on mystical feeling as an essential part of reality in the Christian life.  Scheaffer says, 


"Reality does not just come as a mystical feeling.  It comes rather in the whole man knowing the objective truth of what is, [and knowing this] to be the existence of God and his character of holiness and love. Then, knowing that this is truth and having accepted Christ as Savior once for all, it is necessary to practice the meaning of the work of Christ as a present reality in our daily lives.  This means two things: first of all, claiming the work of Christ for forgiveness for those specific sins we know we have committed; and then--through faith, on the basis of the finished work of Christ, and in the power of the Holy Spirit--looking to Christ, moment by moment, to bear His fruit through us."  (Letters, p. 98)



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