Crucify Yourselves?
Sometimes reading the wisdom of the Apostles in the New Testament really hits hard. But that strong medicine only goes to show us how dangerous ignoring our spiritual illnesses can be!
He was pouring his heart out to me. He was ashamed. He was embarrassed. And he was sorry.
But none of that could change the fact that he had done something terrible.
What struck me as the most powerful moment in his confession was when he described going the wrong way in his life. It was almost like being captured by the moment and going with the flow in the wrong direction. It was like the moment overtook him and drove him the wrong way! Have you ever had that feeling? I have.
Looking back, I can see several moments in my life when I was “overtaken” by the foolish indulgence of my desires and passions. And it never ended well.
The truth is that being overtaken and caught isn’t a fun experience and is usually quite costly.
It’s like being overtaken by a temptation. You usually regret being caught by the temptation and succumbing to the sin. But only after you’ve stumbled!
Our passions and desires seek to overtake us, catch us, and trap us into feeding and indulging them. That’s why the Faith teaches us how to tame our passions and our desires so they remain servants and never our masters. They weren’t meant to master us but to serve us. And when we allow them to master us, we fall into addictions and patterns of life that lead us downward. But the virtues strengthen our will to become strong enough to tame our passions. That is the power of the spiritual disciplines of fasting, prayer, and worship. They feed our souls so we are strong enough not to be overtaken by sin.
This way of living is what the Faith is all about.
Look at our lesson today in Galatians 5:22-26; 6:1-2:
Brethren, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us have no self-conceit, no provoking of one another, no envy of one another. Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Look to yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
It is significant that St. Paul tells these Galatian Christians to “Look to yourself, lest you be tempted.” This is no mistake because avoiding temptation requires me to be attentive to my brokenness and my tendency to be asleep until it’s too late to give in to temptation. Knowing myself well enough to see the temptation coming sets me up to avoid the trap.
St. Paul’s wisdom to the Galatian Church, a church made up of many Gentiles who were not raised with the Laws of the Jews, is that there is an internal formation that matters more! In fact, he insists that the formation of the “Fruit of the Spirit” internally is superior to any lawmaking or external control. He even says after listing the internal “fruit” of a vibrant relationship with Christ that “there is no law” is necessary to those who have embraced this internal character.
But how does one develop such an internal character? Brace yourselves!
You have to “crucify” yourself! WHAT? Who would do such a thing TO THEMSELVES? Those who humbly accept the reality of a life lived free from the addictions of passions and desires. Look at all the lawbreakers in our society. They seem to believe what they want is more important than peace or their neighbor’s desires. They are so undisciplined in their inner life that they allow their desires to master them. They are a slave to their wants. They are not free. They need external disciplines from society to control them because they refuse or can’t control themselves. What a horrible and infantile life! Demanding a false freedom to seek to indulge my passions is no freedom at all.
But those who willingly “crucify” their desires and passions because they are following Jesus need no external controls to govern their lives. They are the masters of their desires, not slaves.
Those who have controlled and disciplined desires and passions can help those around them and even restore their brethren who have “lost control” of their desires. A person who has “crucified” their desires and learned, through the wisdom of the lifestyle of the Faith, to master their passions is a source of strength, peace, harmony, and joy to the whole world. Conversely, those who remain slaves to their passions are the source of dissension, fighting, and childish addiction in society.
No law is necessary IF you continue doing the work to submit yourself to God in Christ and allow the wisdom of the Faith to change your lifestyle. The Orthodox faith is precisely the perfect “science” of the soul to transform you so that you don’t need rules to live a righteous life. You already have transformed your desires so that you WANT God above all other desires.
St. Athanasius of Athos founded the Great Lavra monastery community on Mt. Athos, the first monastery established on the “Holy Mountain.” He established this great community in 963 AD. St. Athanasius had such a reputation for humility and holiness that people, both small and great, came to him for spiritual advice and direction. He had such control over his passions that, when it came time for his death, he peacefully and soberly described to his spiritual brothers what was going to happen so they would not be traumatized. He passed peacefully after an injury, helping build a church building on the monastery grounds to accommodate many people coming for prayer and spiritual healing.
Today, are you disciplining your passions and desires or indulging them? Do you need necessary external controls and “rules” because you are still addicted to your passions? Know that the fruit of the Spirit grows in the lives of those who willingly, humbly, and purposefully embrace the disciplines of the Normal Orthodox Faith to see the character of Jesus created in them. Tame your passions by the wisdom of the Faith and watch as the fruit of the Spirit grows in your life!
P.S. The Angels' ranks were awed by your life in the flesh, how, though corporeal and clad with earthly clay, you set forth with courage to invisible wars and wrestlings and did boldly smite the hordes of the demons with mortal wounds. Wherefore, Christ rewarded you with abundant gifts in return. Entreat Him that our souls find salvation, O most renowned Father Athanasius.
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