Practical spiritual advice /5/ – Pearls

Pearls

• Psalm 86:5 For You, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abundant in mercy to those who call upon You.

What does this Psalm say about God? He is good, forgiving and abundant in mercy. But only to those who call upon Him. Those who do not call upon Him, refuse His help, or do not even admit that they need His help, are like starving people whom you give bread and they turn away from you. They don’t want! They don’t want good, they don’t want life, so what can you do? The condition of salvation is: …to those who call upon Him.

• Eph 1:7-8 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence.

How are we forgiven? We are forgiven through His blood.

• Eph 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Salvation is the gift of God. It lies in the fact that Jesus shed His blood for us and sacrificed His life. We have not been saved by our good deeds but because He paid for us. And we receive this greatest gift through faith. Christ died for all people but not all will be saved, only those who will receive this gift. Those who will refuse it will not be saved. Therefore, it is necessary that we should preach the Gospel, the forgiveness of sins. If we accept other religions and their myths and mix them up with the pure Gospel, none of us can be saved. We have the treasure, the assurance of salvation, and we cannot replace this saving faith by fables or pagan myths. Salvation is the gift of God, through the blood of Jesus, through faith. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Eph 2:8-9) Yes, I am saved for free, so I should do good deeds, of course. But I can’t think that I do not need to repent, that I will do good deeds and God will save me. That’s a deceit. I have to confess my sin before God, repent and then do good deeds. If we look at things truthfully, we can see that even with the best will in the world our good deeds are tainted by a desire for approval, self-fulfilment, pride and our selfish advantages. So this is how our good deeds look.

• Heb 10:12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God.

A single sacrifice for sins! A regular offering – a killed lamb – was presented in the temple of Jerusalem, but this blood could not save anyone. Jesus died once. The blood of the Lamb of God takes away our sins. His sacrifice at Calvary is made present in every liturgy. His blood is not shed physically any more; it was shed once for all, and all liturgies through the words of institution and epiclesis make present in this time and space what Jesus did at Calvary.

• Heb 10:17 Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

When we stand in the light, under the power of Jesus Christ and His blood, and give Him our sins, let us think of the day, month and year of our birth: “Lord, I bring to light all from the date of my birth to this day. All my lawless deeds, all evil thoughts, all acts and words. Lord, now I stand before You as a sinner and I bring this all under the power of Your holy blood. Jesus, I believe that You died for all my sins.” …and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.

We all must know the essence of perfect contrition. We do not have to confess venial sins to a priest. When we prepare for confession, we should first of all think of what it was that grieved God most. What is it that my conscience condemns me for most? And the next thing: What is my weakness? How did it become manifest? E.g. I fight with the problem of overeating, or I am being healed of the wounds of sin which God has already delivered me from but it has left spiritual wounds. I need to humble myself again and again and give this problem or weakness to God at once. Then, when I confess it to a priest in confession, it is a kind of self-humiliation, and when I humble myself in this way, God will give me the light in reward for it. It’s no use reciting a list of sins in confession. There’s no sense in it. I need to prepare and confess one or two cardinal sins and then some more, and thus my confession lasts a few minutes. If I have some serious problem, after confession, when I have been given absolution, I can tell the priest shortly what’s the core of it.

Although it is not compulsory to confess venial sins to a priest, it is useful to practise this kind of spiritual “hygiene”. But even if we go to confession regularly, e.g. once in two weeks or once a month, the best practice is to give our sins to God immediately. Example: I do something silly, e.g. “Lord, I’ve eaten too much” or “I’ve been seduced into drinking by my friends. They said that I am not a man unless I drink. I know I shouldn’t do it but I took a drink once, then another time, and then again. I let myself be deceived. But now stop! Lord, forgive me that I did such a silly thing.” You need to humble yourself, to admit that you failed and not to continue sinning. Learn to stop and walk in the truth. Don’t say: “It’s no use stopping, I must go to confession anyway, so it’s pointless… I’ve spoiled everything, I give up…” No! I did this silly thing but now I arise and go. That’s important! The old self in us is cunning, so we have to stand in the light: “Yes, this is in me, I’ve done a silly thing, but now I am before You, Lord.” You need to enter into the light, not let yourself be seduced and not allow the spirit of lies to drag you into addiction again. Stop! “Lord, I have sinned but now I start again. I’ve spoiled it and it hurts me, but I won’t make a step in that direction any more! I am changing direction – I am following You, Jesus!”

Or another example: You have a prayer guard at two o’clock at night but you oversleep. You get up at half past two and a thought passes through your mind: “It’s no use praying now. I missed the chance…” But say: “No! I’ll get up and pray even if I should pray 5 minutes only.” You need courage. When you make a mistake, stand before God and don’t say that it’s pointless. It’s not pointless – to stand before God as a sinner is never pointless – and then God heals us little by little.

• Eph 4:32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

What should your relationship to others be like if you tasted God’s forgiveness? God’s Word says: kind, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Women often say: “I forgive but I don’t forget…” God does not remember our sins, and what about us? If I forgive, I forgive as God forgave me. I realize my sins: Lord, and what about me? If someone puts an obstacle in my way, I should say: “Lord, thank You. This is my purgatory. Now, in this situation, I am innocent, but it’s my purgatory for other sins. Lord, thank You.” And when I start to give thanks, God will show me why it is so. It’s no good venting my anger or falling into self-pity. However, instead of giving thanks we grumble and rebel. Thanksgiving is a practical thing.

I had a car accident and crashed my car: “Lord, thank You that I am alive. Something much worse could happen.” But we do not see what else could happen; we only see that now we’ll have problems. If we start to give thanks, God will open our eyes. But we are in rebellion and grumble: “Lord, why is it so? Those people are unbelievers and are well off, have so much money, nice houses… I serve You and I have nothing, just problems and problems…” If we start to think like this, it is our ruin. Our old self unites with the spirit of lies, the spirit of the devil, and if we open our heart to lies and believe them, they will set us against God. This spirit of rebellion is in us and manifests itself every time we face a certain problem or cross. Immediately our old self shows its teeth. It’s in us from our very childhood. Therefore we must learn the following: The first reaction – have I started to rebel? Stop! “Lord, forgive me that I was in rebellion. Thank You, thank You, thank You. And rebellious thoughts must out!” We need to learn it practically and then God will work miracles and open our eyes. This is one step of the life of faith – to learn to give thanks for everything even if I don’t understand. “Lord, I don’t understand but I thank You. You see it. You see my powerlessness, my desperate situation…” Try to do it and God will give you the light and strength.

Application 1Jn 1:9

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