In today's epistle from Saint Paul (Rom 10:1-10), the reading ends with the line, "For
man believes with his heart and so is justified, and he confesses with his lips
and so is saved.” These are powerful
words for us as we attempt to follow those other words of Saint Paul, which exhort us to “work out your own salvation with
fear and trembling.” (Phil 2:12) You
see, the Protestant view that Jesus has accomplished all for us already, and
that all we have to do is accept His gift of salvation is voided by these words
of Saint Paul. Clearly there is more to
the issue of our salvation than waving our hands in the air and saying, “I
believe, Jesus! I believe!”
Now
the earlier words from Saint Paul lead us to that very same place. “For a
man believes with his heart and so is justified.” What do these words mean? The word translated from the original Greek as ‘justified’ can also be
read as ‘righteous’. When we believe
with our hearts, we may be found to be righteous. And so, how do we truly begin to believe with
our hearts? The word in Greek used for 'heart' is
literally that part of us that is our beating hearts - cardia! The clear implication is that the source of
our earthly life needs to be conformed to the source of our eternal life! When we conform what we say, do, touch, or work
upon here in this life as if our eternal life were already in effect, then we
may be justified, we may be found to live righteously, we are conforming to
God’s will.
What
a thing to contemplate – that we might live here in this life as if we were
already in that eternal life. And yet,
is this not how the saints of the Church have demonstrated themselves to
us. Doesn’t the study of the lives of
the saints point us in this direction, that we are already in the Kingdom of
Heaven if only we live within the commandments of our Lord?
Saint
John Chrysostom writes about this same passage from Saint Paul by taking the
path of looking at Saint Paul as the ‘physician’, out to heal the people of
Rome by his words and instruction. Saint
Paul’s argument to the people of the Church of Rome was that the Law of Moses
was null and void in comparison with the issues of faith. Chrysostom teaches that the object of the Law
was to lead mankind to righteousness.
But the Law didn’t have the ‘power’ to do this, it only provided the
prescription. The person, the
individual, still needed to conform to that prescription to achieve
righteousness. But no one did. No one could.
But then our Lord came, and gave a means by which all could be
accomplished – not by living only to a set of rules, but by conforming the
heart to His will – by faith! In that faith,
we come to understand that we are not ‘like God’. We are not perfect. His rules in the Law are beyond our ability
to live within them without ever breaking them in some fashion. In that faith that He gives to us, in that
faith that we hold in our hearts, in the very life-blood that sustains us
physically and which then permeates into our eternal spiritual lives, He shows
us the way through repentance to live that righteous life that He desires of us.
How
do we change our lives so that we have this kind of faith deep in our hearts,
spiritually and physically?
I
have a wonderful little book. It’s
titled “The Orthodox Companion”. Don’t
go looking for it, you won’t find it. It
was written by Fr. David Abramtsov and published by the Syrian Antiochian
Archdiocese under Metropolitan Anthony back in 1956. Yes – it’s ‘old’. But
within the book are small treasures of Orthodoxy, little things that we
can use, especially to answer big questions like the one I just posed about
changing our lives so that we can find this deep faith, a faith that fills our
hearts, a faith that we won’t be able to suppress our lips from
confessing. What are some of these
tidbit guides for us?
One
is that we change the way we approach our day.
When we are about to begin our daily ‘duties’, whatever they may be, we could/should offer some or all of the “Prayers of the Optina Elders”. The beauty of these is that whatever our
particular work or duties are, they don’t matter in the least. The prayers still apply, whether you’re a
doctor going in to do heart surgery or a farmer going out to clean dung from your
barn. What are these prayers?
1) Grant to me,
Lord, that with peace of mind I may face all that this new day is to bring. If we can’t
start with our minds being at peace, how is the day not going to be filled with
trouble and turmoil? In short - Make a good
beginning.
2) Grant me the
grace to surrender myself completely to Your Holy will. If
I during the day decide that “I know what’s best – stand aside, God,” am I
going to have any hope of being found righteous? Do I truly believe with my heart if I do such
things?
3) For every
hour of this day, instruct and prepare me in all things. None of us can
say what might happen next. If I’m in
the kitchen preparing supper, there’s always that chance that my finger could
be sliced into the pile of potatoes. The
neighbor’s house could catch fire. Or my
child might ask for a loving response when I’m troubled. Whatever might happen, isn’t is right for us
to pray for God’s gift to prepare us for whatever may come our way?
4) Whatever news
I may receive during this day, teach me to accept it tranquilly, knowing that
all things are done to fulfill Your Holy will. We so very
often forget that God accomplishes good out of evil. We see evil surrounding us, and we conclude
that God has abandoned us. But in our
hearts, those same hearts that we are trying to conform to His will, we know that He never
abandons us, He is never far from us.
5) Govern my
thoughts and feelings in all I do or say. Wow – if only!
6) When
unforeseen things occur, let me not forget that all comes from You. This is like
Number 4 above, but reinforces that everything – and that means everything – comes from God, and I need to recognize His sovereignty therefore
over the things that I perceive to be in my control. Ultimately, they are in His control. Remember 9/11? Remember how devastated we were? Remember how so many questioned how God could permit people to be murdered in that way? Remember how many came to God in prayer because of that day? Remember how we found such spiritual strength as a nation, to rally around those who were harmed on that day? Can we not see that God had a plan, even in such tragedy? Can we see how we've reverted as a nation back to a place of complacency since, how we've forgotten our need to reach out to our God?
7) Teach me to
behave sincerely and reasonably toward every member of my family, that I may
not bring them to confusion or sorrow. Sincerity and reasonability. If we approach spouse, child, parent with
these, do our dealings with them ever go wrong?
And yet, how often do our dealings with family go wrong, usually because we are either or both insincere and/or unreasonable? What a thing to pray!
8) Bestow on me,
my Lord, the strength to endure the fatigue of the day, and to bear my part in
all its passing events. Is it easy for us to remain sincere and
reasonable when we’re tired? It’s a
common human excuse for misbehavior – “I’m tired!” It means, “Leave me alone. Stay away from me.” These are words that divide us from those who
love us.
9) Guide my will
and teach me to pray, believe, hope, suffer, forgive, and love. Amen! Teach
me to pray! How many times in my life
have I sat speechless, knowing that I needed to reach toward God, but not being
able to find even a word to make that attempt?
How many times have I grown angry at myself for my impotence in reaching
toward Him? How many times have I sat in
such silence, and then found myself resorting to words He has already given
me? Sometimes it’s Psalm 51 – “Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your
great mercy…” Sometimes it’s some
other Psalm whose words apply to the situation I find myself in. But often it’s our Lord’s own words that He
gave us in response to the request of His own Apostles when they asked Him “Teach
us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” (Luke 11:2) Yes – it’s the Lord’s Prayer.
Let's look at an example that summarizes all we’ve talked about to this
point, of having our hearts conform to the Lord’s will, of living a life that
is always seeking His guidance, of praying for His peace, of treating others
with respect and kindness even in the face of adversity, and of prayer that is
inspired by Him.
We’ve
told the story before, but it bears repeating as often as necessary. I relate the story as it was told to me by a priest I knew quite a few years ago, and so if the details are "off", let me apologize in advance for any errors.
Quite a few years ago in the OCA, Bishop
Dimitri was assigned to the Diocese of the South – Dallas I think was the
‘home’ cathedral. Anyhow, Bishop Dimitri
was invited to participate in a multi-denominational meeting with a group of
other Christian denominations, and the ‘leader’ of the gathering was a certain
Southern Baptist pastor who apparently had little love for the Orthodox. Forced to introduce Bishop Dimitri to give
the invocation prayer, the minister stood, and his introduction said basically,
“Now, Bishop Dimitri is going to read us one of those written-down kind of
prayers.”
It
was an unprovoked attack on one he didn’t even know. It was a situation that could have forced any
of us into returning evil for evil – generating confrontation. But if we live the prayers we’ve just
outlined, if we seek to believe with our hearts so that we’ll be found
justified and righteous, we would likely do exactly what Bishop Dimitri did.
He stood quietly, went to the podium, took out a book and opened it, put on his glasses, looked down, and began to read:
“Our
Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name….”
When
he finished the prayer, there was a standing ovation!
Love even those that hate us....
Glory to Jesus Christ!
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