Virtue and Turning

Devotional Classics, Richard Rolle, Excerpt from The Fire of Love

"Before we can experience even a little of God's love, we must be really turned to him, and, in mind at least, be wholly turned from every earthly thing. The turning is indeed a matter of duly ordered love, so that, first, we love what we ought to love and not what we ought not, and, second, our love kindles more towards the former than to the latter." (p.162)

Being virtuous its rewards. Freedom from shame and guilt. Newfound strength. Reconciliation in relationships with others. But at the top of the list is the experience of God's love. Actually, I find without this "reward," none of the others make virtue stick.

This is the reason that turning is required. I must turn not only to God, but away from every "earthly thing." Contrary to popular opinion, I do not think this is because God is the cosmic killjoy. This has to do with the nature of the human heart and with the nature of love itself.

There is only room for one God in any persons life. One of the greatest problems with polytheism is its denial of reality. The same holds true for agnosticism. I cannot serve more than one god, neither can I not serve any god. In the end, whatever service I render to other people, gods, or desires comes down to one focal point. That focal point is the place of worship to my one god.

Jesus explains it this way: "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate one and love the other or be devoted to one and despise the other." (Mt. 6:24) In the ten commandments, it goes this way, "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me." (Ex. 20:1-2)

Instead of turning away from other "gods" and toward the true God, I want to have God AND other things. Instead of turning, I find myself stacking. I try to gather all the things that make me feel comfortable, safe, and happy into a pile that I can pick and choose from. Unfortunately, with stacking, there still is an order - something ends up on top.

So turning is a matter of "duly ordered love." What's on top? Rolle says that the way my deck is stacked will be obvious soon enough. "Love for God and love for the world cannot coexist in the same soul: the stronger drives out the weaker, and it soon appears who loves the world, and who follows Christ." (p.163) As much as I would love to stack and "have it all," I find that virtue - loving God and his ways - lies in a completely different direction than loving the passing things of this world. One must be ignored to seek the other. So I must turn.

Rolle explains such turning in two steps. First there is doing what I ought to do. This is deciding upon what is good and right and from God and seizing upon it. Then love kindles or alights in the process of decision and action. If I wait until love kindles without doing what I ought to do, I find myself merely doing what I desire, good or not. This leads to confusion and almost inevitably toward vice rather than virtue. If I do what I ought and love never kindles in me, I am on the fast track to burnout and despair. I think virtue begins with duty and ends with delight when it is practiced correctly.

Lord, I think I can have the world and you. I end up running back and forth between the two, or stretching my life to encompass both. Help me to let go of this world and turn to you. In many ways, I think the biggest challenge is the letting go and trusting that the delight will follow. Bring to mind your many delights and blessings and stir gratitude in my heart so that my turning may be complete. Amen.

There is "botched" virtue that practices virtue as a duty, but never learns to delight. I find myself swimming in this kind of virtue frequently. I feel the lack of delight because I have not let go entirely of the delight in the sin or distraction. Since I still hold on, my duty always remains a strain and I find it hard to see any delight in being with God instead. Trust is the vital ingredient. I can only let go completely when I know that something much better awaits. Thus I must pray, read, and ponder about such things since they are frequently clouded by lies and distractions.