Overtaken by Sin

The spiritual wisdom of Normal Orthodoxy is a lifestyle of teaching my desires how to be servants and not my masters!

Have you ever noticed the pattern of stumbling into sin or a bad habit? Whether it’s out of boredom, or fear, or anger, or mere inattentiveness, you stumble into an action or speech that you later regret. At the moment, the only thing you can think about is the desire and the satisfaction of that desire. It’s only later you experience the regretful “hangover” of indulging your desires and fulfilling them in an unhealthy way. It’s like being chased and captured by my desires.

Our passions and desires seek to overtake, catch, and trap us into feeding and indulging them. That’s why the Faith teaches us how to tame our passions and desires so they remain servants and never masters.

They weren’t meant to master us but to serve us. 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.

Significantly, 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. 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 of many Gentiles who were not raised with the Laws of the Jews, is that there is an internal formation that matters more! He insists that internally forming the “Fruit of the Spirit” is superior to any lawmaking or external control. After listing the internal “fruit” of a vibrant relationship with Christ, he even says that “there is no law” is necessary for 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?

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” (that means actively killing) 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.

When you embrace the wisdom to tame your desires and passions, controlled and disciplined, you can help those around you and even restore your 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 the perfect “science” of the soul to transform you so you don’t need rules to live a righteous life. You have already had your desires transformed so that you want God above all other desires.

Like St. Anthony famously said centuries ago, “I no longer fear God; I love Him. And perfect love casts out fear.”

St. Xenia, the Deaconess of Rome, is a hero of our Faith. She was born and lived in the 5th century, and her parents were wealthy aristocratic members of Rome's society. Her name was “Eusebia,” but she later changed it to “Xenia,” which means “stranger” in Greek. She was an only child, and when she came of age, her parents would have her married. She and two of her faithful servants planned to escape at night and set sail on a ship. From a young age, Xenia desired to dedicate her life solely to God and prayer. While on her journey, she met the abbot of the monastery of St. Andrew in Milassa. While there, she bought some land and built a monastery for women. Because of her piety and chastity, Bishop Paul of Milassa made Xenia a deaconess, and she continued her ministry of helping everyone. She crucified her selfish desires and rose in sanctity to tame her passions and teach her desires to serve God rather than any temporary goals.

Today, are you crucifying your passions and desires or indulging them? Are you able to live your life free from necessary external controls 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 image of God, was faithfully preserved in you, O Mother. For you took up the Cross and followed Christ. By Your actions you taught us to look beyond the flesh for it passes, rather to be concerned about the soul which is immortal. Wherefore, O Holy Xenia, your soul rejoices with the angels.

Fr. Barnabas Powell is the parish priest at Sts. Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene Greek Orthodox Church in Cumming, GA. He is also the founder of Faith Encouraged Ministries and produces the Faith Encouraged Daily Devotional on Substack. Watch the Faith Encouraged YouTube Channel here - https://www.youtube.com/@FaithEncouragedTV