Major on the Major

From Thomas à Kempis, “of the Imitation of Christ”:

Vanity of vanities…all is vanity” (Eccles. 1), except to love God and to serve Him only. This is the highest wisdom, by the contempt of the world to press forward toward heavenly kingdoms.

Therefore, it is vanity to seek after perishing riches and to trust in them. Also, it is vanity to hunt after honors and to climb to high degree. It is vanity to follow the desires of the flesh, and to long after that for which you must afterward suffer grievous punishment. It is vanity to wish to live long, and to be careless to live well. It is vanity to mind only this present life, and not to foresee those things which are to come. It is vanity to set your love on that which speedily passes away, and not to hasten to where everlasting joy abides.

Call often to mind that proverb: “The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing” (Eccles. 1:8). Endeavor therefore to withdraw your heart from the love of visible things, and to turn yourself to things invisible. For they that follow their own sensuality defile their own consciences and lose the grace of God.

As I was reading Thomas à Kempis this morning, I thought how appropriate for a devotional thought as we turn our thoughts to a new year. May God help us this year to “major on the major” and not get caught “majoring on the minor.”