Morality And Faith

(based on the Epistle of James)

God did not create us to willow away and die in sin, but to be fruitful - and not only fruitful -, to be among the first-fruits of His creation.

God gave us the will-power to dominate our own passions and use them in pursuit of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Whether we are close to God in holiness or removed from God by the barrier of sin depends on our own free will, through Jesus Christ.

The perfect man is capable of controlling his whole body. If a man does not maintain discipline over even the smallest of the earthly passions, innocuous as it may seem, it could not only set aflame the whole body, but consume the soul in the ensuing fire. A man can use his body to bless and to curse, to pursue the works of the Holy Spirit and to pursue the works of the flesh.

Indeed, the spiritual battle unfolds in the willingness and power of the soul to master the relationship between the body and the rest of creation. The looser allows his will-power to be dispersed aimlessly through the uncontrolled members of the body, the winner focuses the energy of his mind and body on the most important pursuit of all: the soul’s relationship with the Holy Spirit.

This is what we should be seeking, what we should be asking for: passion and discipline working together in the pursuit of the relationship with the Holy Spirit.

And that is why the Apostle James writes “obey God”, obey His statutes and the teachings of Jesus, resist the devil and the devil will flee from you, draw near to God and God will draw near to you. Wash your hands, purify your heart, harness the energy of mind and body under the direction of the soul in the pursuit of one goal.

Therefore, if you lack perfection in pursuit of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, ask of the Lord what is lacking. But do so with unshakable faith: we do not achieve perfection in doubt, duplicity, and instability.

In faith, then, listen to the Word, keep the passions in check. Cast aside all impurities and runaway passion in gentleness and humility so as to nurture the Word implanted within you that gives eternal life to your soul: tend the garden, be the worker in the vineyard, dig out the weeds, so that the seed can grow and produce fruit.

Be patient, then, like the farmer waiting for the autumn rain in the planting season - strengthen your heart - and the late rain in the season of the harvest - produce fruit.

Put in another way, the goal is to achieve complete personhood, from genesis to eternal life of the soul. Listening to the word as passive entertainment or studying the word as a self-indulgent intellectual exercise is self-deception. The doer is the true poet: keep the passions in check, listen to the Word, study the Word, and put it into practice. This is the law of freedom in Jesus Christ which allows us to produce the fruits of the Holy Spirit.

 

Gentless And Humility, Kindness And Mercy

(Mt 5:5, Mt 11:25-30, Mt 21:5, Lk 6:35, Ja 1:21, Ja 3:13, 1Pe 2:3, 1Pe 3:16, Ro 11:22, 1Cor 13:4, 2Cor 6:6, 2Cor 10:1, Eph 2:7, Eph 4:2, Eph 4:32, Col 3:12, 1Tim 6:4, 2Tim 2:25, Titus 3:2-4)

Gentleness and humility, kindness and mercy, are attributes of God, among the fruits of the Holy Spirit, the pursuit of and perfection in which make men - created in the image and likeness of God - sons of God and heirs worthy of eternal life.

So put into practice the teachings of Jesus, learn from the Lord kindness and humility of heart; this is the lighter and more merciful load than that of any other teaching and idolatry, and you will learn to be light of soul, kind, humble, gentle, merciful, and again, worthy of eternal life.

The Lord himself is kind and merciful, with the kindness and mercy that are eminences of His life-giving love.

The Lord is kind and merciful even to the ungrateful and evil, for it is God’s gift of grace, by His love through Christ, that saves us in faith. Therefore, love even your enemies, the idolaters, because they may receive the same grace of God and change their minds. For God through His kindness and mercy saves the faithful, regardless of their past, purifying their hearts so that we may be heirs of the hope of eternal life.

Gentleness and humility, kindness and mercy, then, are key to putting aside idolatry, to removing impurity, to focusing on the Word and the teaching of God, even subduing knowledge and wisdom to this purpose.

So remember in your dealings with your fellow men, that you too once pursued the works of the flesh, you too were an idolater. Forgive them as Christ forgave you. Be kind to everyone, treat and educate idolaters and those who miss the mark with all gentleness and humility, so that they too may change their minds and accept that same grace of God that saves you.

 

The Great Fire

One day the fire is going to sweep through and show you what you are made of. How you handle the vagaries of this world is proof of the nature of your soul and its faith.

Let the fire come, let it rage and burn away all that is impure.

 

Faith And Wisdom

James 1:3-4

Patience, deep-rooted stability, is the necessary quality for faith to complete the work of a tested, unwavering soul, standing on its own regardless of the vagaries of creation, as God commands.

 

The Promise Of The Lord’s Coming

2Pe 3:1-18

Doubters and atheists and revelers want proof of God’s presence and significance, and yet they take no lesson in the miracles, the prophets, and the calamities of history.

We alone as human beings, as we are, as we shape our own will on our own, cannot bring justice to our lives, individually or collectively. However, we can try, we have the teachings and commands of the fathers, the prophets, and Christ, the messengers and Son of God on earth, and we have the promise of the new heaven and the new earth. And we have a role to play in preparing the way towards the new heaven and the new earth because our behavior and the shape of our will contribute, in one way or another, to the shape of the new heaven and the new earth. It is in this attempt, based on faith, that we can go as far as possible in bringing justice to our lives.

The creation unfolds and God has His reasons. In the midst of it all, His will for souls, endowed with their own free will, is that they remain at peace and virtuous, reflecting His glory. He understands how souls, endowed with their own free will, may interact with the vagaries of creation, but He has patience - a watch in the night, a day, a thousand years or ten thousand years - that souls may deeply root themselves in peace, justice, virtue and love, and one of the things that He asks of us is patience in achieving these very goals, in achieving a harmony of wills, so that we may be as shining stars, a positive element, as co-workers of God, as the creation unfolds, as, through water and fire, the new heaven and the new earth are firmly put into place, as God sees fit.

 

The Christian Call And Election

2Pe 1:6

Men, because of their unwillingness to make the effort to purify their heart’s eye, are short-sighted, even blind.

But God calls us to His glory and virtue, and we can attain it, first of all, by having faith and by shunning the corrupt passions of the world.

Patience in this case, then, is a link in a chain of qualities that leads from faith to love, a soul, independent of the vagaries of creation, a soul effective and fruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, reflecting God’s glory and goodness.

We need to be reminded of this again and again.

 

Suffering For Rightousness Sake

1Pe 3:20

Just as God is patient with the disobedient, and then allows them to purify their consciouses with the waters of baptism, so we too must be zealous for the good, for righteousness, even in the face of the wrong, in the face of injustice … with gentleness and respect, so that those who insult our good conduct in Christ may be put to shame for their insults.

Patience is maintaining faith, in a spirit of goodness and gentleness, just as God is patient with the disobedient and gives them a chance to purify their hearts.

 

Leap Of Faith

Take the leap of faith, take the risk of doing what you need to do based on your own talents and energy of faith.

Faith must be deeply rooted for the fruits of the Holy Spirit to mature. We explore the depth of our faith, we hit the rock lying below the top soil, then we must break through with the energy of a new level of faith, also fueled by the other fruits of the Holy Spirit … love, peace, joy, kindness, goodness, patience, gentleness, and discipline.

 

Healing The Breach

Having hatred or any feeling or expectation that is at variance with the canons of justice is equivalent to pouring burning sulphur into your heart.

In such a sad state, your prayer cannot be right, you cannot clearly understand the will of God, you burn a hole right through your heart’s eye, you obliterate insight, you burn away energy of the seed that produces the fruits of the Holy Spirit, you burn bare the fact that you lack faith.

But like the ozone layer, if man can curb his greedy lust to waste energy, will heal itself, so, with proper care, your heart’s eye, the soul, the instrument of insight, energized by faith, will heal itself.

 

Signs And Persecutions

Lk 21:19

Patience is deeply-rooted stable faith, even in the face of adversity and injustice, on which basis you will be the master of your soul.

Such souls, then, can reproduce the fruits of the Holy Spirit.