A Christian is a person who loves Jesus Christ, lives for Christ, directs everyone to Christ, and shows Christ to everyone! Therefore, wherever I am, whatever I do – whether I live or die – I must do everything for the Lord Jesus Christ, to the glory of God the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit! If the Lord wills that I should be ill – I will joyfully bear the burden of illness, fight the illness, and treat it with joy, and all this – for the Lord Jesus Christ! And if the illness cannot be cured – then I will bear with joy-thanksgiving the grace of God poured out on me in this illness. For the Lord to fast, and for the Lord to eat, for the Lord to work, and for the Lord to rest… whatever we do, we who believe-trust that God is Love, that Jesus Christ is Lord, no longer have the right to live for ourselves, but only for the Lord Jesus Christ! Glory to God for everything! A Christian keeps God’s commandments with one goal – to Love God, to express their Love for Jesus Christ! God is Love! Here is the basis-hope-support of every feat! And the essence of all efforts is in joy (I am divinely loved by God every moment, everywhere and always! Even if I wander into hell – and I can (endowed with freedom) turn the gifted paradise, God’s Gift (every moment I am in paradise – see Part II) into hell-pit with ingratitude) to give thanks! The essence of a Christian’s (Christ’s) life is the Eucharist (thanksgiving). All discernment, all counsel, all efforts (feat) are directed to one thing – to know God’s will and fulfill it, to please Him, to express gratitude (Eucharist for everyone and everything), to respond to God’s Love with reciprocity! And he loves God who does His will-desire!
Whoever has any fear, let them look at their whole life as a connection with God (first of all, at the inexpressible constant Love of God the Father Almighty, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit for me, a sinner!), and then there will be no fear. Love drives away fear. Trust in God-Love drives away fear. Therefore, whoever has fear – let them work on carrying thoughts of gratitude for God’s Providence, about God’s constant Love for me (“even a hair from your head will not perish without the will of God-Love!”). Frequent glorification of God, thanksgiving to God, thoughts about God’s providence – these are the medicines against fear (anxiety about the future: “Oh, what will happen?!!” – “Everything will be good!!! God is Love!!!”). These medicines have no contraindications; there can never be too much gratitude! And do not forget the main thing – all medicines are taken with HUMILITY, without humility nothing will be of benefit (the goal of all medicines, feats, and labors is to acquire God-accepting humility!), but will only be for judgment and condemnation (the Pharisee thanked… and went away condemned, not receiving the Holy Spirit. And the publican humbled himself (and thanked, not realizing it himself; the humble cannot help but thank Orthodoxly) and received the Holy Spirit (see Luke 18:10-14))!
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“One man said to the Lord Jesus Christ: Lord, are there few who are saved? And He said to them: strive to enter through the narrow gate, for I say to you, many will seek to enter and will not be able” (see Luke 13:23-24). All Christians are Orthodox cross-bearers, ascetics. It is not enough to strive, to work diligently – without Orthodox faith, without correctness-legality of the feat all labors lead a person to a state of alienation from God, pride – opposition to God, the ability to crucify God and seek an opportunity to kill Jesus Christ, “for judgment and condemnation” (“They have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge, not Orthodox,” “He who competes unlawfully will not receive the crown, will be disqualified,” “The time will come when whoever kills you will think that he is offering service to God” (John 16:2); “they will say and sincerely believe that ‘we are children of Abraham, we are Orthodox,’ at the same time when God’s judgment on such ‘Orthodox’ dreamers is: your father is the devil; and you want to fulfill the desires of your father…” (see John 8:31-48)). The essence of Orthodox spiritual life of a Christian – all feats, efforts, deeds – is faith in God’s Providence (= God’s Love, that God is unconditional, constant, active Love…), discernment with counsel (to know God’s will, to Orthodoxly give thanks, to do good deeds Eucharistically – to respond to God’s Love with reciprocity – to fulfill in joy all the will of the Beloved Lord Jesus Christ). God is Love! We are created by God-Love for Love, for the divine life of the Holy Trinity! The life of the Holy Trinity is
the Mystery of Love – to Love and to be Loved – to wholly give oneself to Another, and to wholly receive Another into oneself (the Mystery of communion-perichoresis-unity: “I in You, and You in Me, We in them, and they in Us” (see John 17)). Created free beings-persons are called to become “partakers of the divine nature,” partakers of this Mystery of Love, to enter the Life of the Holy Trinity as one of the Trinity, to become god by Grace!!! On the way to deification, created beings (some angels and humans) made a mistake, sinned – missed the target, went astray, got lost, crippled themselves, became egotists with all the consequences of proud disobedience. God the Father saved people in His Son Jesus Christ and generously gave us the Holy Spirit and opened the way to deification, which was closed to people after the fall and until the Holy Pentecost when the Lord Jesus Christ gave people the Power, Authority (the Holy Spirit) to be children of God and perform the Eucharist, that is, to partake of the Mystery of Love, the Life of the Holy Trinity! So, the goal of all human life is the Eucharist, Love-Thanksgiving, mutual Love. (This goal-purpose for a person has always been, but in the Old Testament, a person could not accept this Gospel, that God is Love, could not accept Love, the Holy Spirit. In the New Testament, Christians (Christ’s) already have the power to be partakers of the Eucharist, to love God divinely in the Holy Spirit and in Christ love everyone and everything!) And only a humble person can Love-Thank (accept Love, accept Another Person-Wholeness-Almighty) (“God gives grace to the humble”)!