AC 1571 - "there was strife between the herdmen;" (Genesis 13:7)

AC 1571
As worship is here treated of, namely,
that of the internal person and of the external,
and as these did not yet agree,
it is here said that "there was strife between the herdmen;"
for Abram represents the internal man,
and Lot the external.

In worship
the nature and quality of the disagreement
between the internal person and the external
are especially discernible,
and this even in every single thing of worship;
for when in worship
the internal person desires
to regard the ends that belong to the kingdom of God,
and the external person desires
to regard the ends that belong to the world,
there thus arises a disagreement
which manifests itself in the worship,
and that so plainly
that the smallest bit of such disagreement
is noticed in heaven.