Many of us in the Western Church are willing to believe in the Lord, but not suffer for the Lord just as the Israelites when Moses was sent to free them from their bondage at the command of God. This applies to us in two ways. One, we cannot face the secular world due to our faintheartedness, so we change to make the world happy because we do not love God. Two, we cannot stand against our passions due to our faintheartedness, and we give in to them and make worldly habits lords over our lives.
The Israelites believed in God’s message of deliverance from Egypt when Moses showed them signs (Ex. 4:30-31). They rejoiced and believed, but they did not love and trust in God. They were fainthearted and disobedient (Ex. 6:9). This was made clear when instead of trusting in God when Pharaoh came down harder on them, the Israelites were very angry with Moses for the message and chastised him. They were not willing to suffer, in addition to their belief (Ex. 5:21).
The Orthodox Study Bible, prepared under the auspices of the Academic Community of St. Athanasius Academy of Orthodox Theology (2008) notes, “So although they have mental assent to belief in the Lord, they actually had no heart for Him.” Many of us today are living that same way. We have a heart problem, and therefore are fainthearted at the task of giving up pleasures of men in this world so that we may receive glory in the next. Our minds are short-sighted, and all day long, we feed the flesh. We feel loved by God when everything is going right, but when oppression comes, we cry out to God, wondering what we did wrong.
Remember, suffering on the Lord’s behalf brings eternal glory (2 Cor. 4:17); it brings patience, it humbles us, and it strengthens us. We must meet the challenges of the day with long-suffering. We fold under the pressure of the world. We get anxious at the idea that people might not like the messages we’re preaching. We grimace at the idea that people call us judgmental. We, like the Israelites in Exodus, at first rejoice and believe in God. Then when opposition comes, our hearts aren’t in it, and we change to match the world. In this action, we’re disobedient to God.
As we struggle with our passions and our sins, we fold instead of suffering through them. Gluttony, lust, rage, greed, and pride fill our cups. Thinking on our sins, we say to ourselves, ‘God made me this way, I cannot change,’ but this is not true. We are to change when in communion with the grace of God. We crucify the old man and become new in the Spirit. We are buried and risen again in Christ through our baptism by water and Holy Fire in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Our sins are our choice, and they are hard to battle, but we must suffer through them because, on the other side of that suffering is a better us, no longer afflicted by the consequences of those habitual sins, and saved from the grief and shame they bring us. Also, on the other end of this life, there is a crown for those who finish the race, not one perishable, but one everlasting (1 Cor. 9:25). We say further to ourselves, ‘God is loving, and will forgive me.’ This is true, but we must not use His grace as a crutch to sin and lie stuck our ways.
To not sin is good because it is obedience to God, but we also benefit from avoiding sin. It’s for our sakes that we turn away from our passions and vices. As I said above, we don’t have to be chained and bound to these habits and the consequences with grief and shame attached to them. We can be free, and who is free in the Lord is free indeed.
Strengthen your hearts in the Lord. Believe in Him, and love Him with all your heart, soul, and mind. Suffer through the pain. There’s a fulfilling life on the other side by the grace of God, and there’s an even better life hereafter for the believer. Jesus suffered for us in His defeat of death and sin by the cross, and He is with us when we suffer. He doesn’t demand perfection, but He asks for a Holy people for He is Holy.
The world has always hated the Church, and changing for it won’t make them hate you any less, for Jesus was not of this world, and they hated Him for it (Jn. 17:16). Fear not to suffer for the Lord, for He suffered for you. Stand up to the wiles of the devil, and keep far from the passions. Put on the whole armor of God as not to be broken down in the mind as Satan works hard and well to do. Do not bend to this world, it is only temporary. Strengthen your heart by His Spirit, there is no other way to victory. Obey His commandments, they are for our sake, not His. Lean wholly on God because He will never let you down. Love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, for He first loved you.
References
St. Athanasius Academy of Orthodox Theology. (2008). The Orthodox Study Bible. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson. Pg. 71