Unappreciated Blessings

The temptation to arrogance and missing the purpose of the gifts we are given is a common weakness and one best avoided at all costs. Because the consequences of getting this wrong are terrible.

It’s a struggle I’ve been facing for some time. How do I deal with the reality that there are people who live good lives who don’t confess their belief, and how do I deal with those people who call themselves “Orthodox” who, frankly, are as mean as a snake?

It won’t surprise you to hear that this isn’t a new problem.

The truth is, it has been happening since there were people!

Imagine the challenge of being the Chosen People and having centuries of theological and wisdom advantages, and here comes some pagan who lives a more honest and moral life than you do! Talk about cognitive dissonance!

But there is another perspective about this that offers me a real blessing. Each of us is a free, unique, and unrepeatable person who incarnates our common human nature in a free, unique, and unrepeatable way! This means that even with or without the advantages of timeless wisdom, we are each confronted with the task of knowing ourselves honestly and allowing the Faith to change us, and rejoicing when God’s grace changes others that He pours on “the just and the unjust.”

Powerful insight, IF we dare to see it and embrace it!

Look at our lesson today in Romans 2:14-28:

BRETHREN, when the Gentiles who have not the law do by nature what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or perhaps excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. But if you call yourself a Jew and rely upon the law and boast of your relation to God and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed in the law, and if you are sure that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth – you then who teach others, will you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” Circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law; but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? Then those who are physically uncircumcised but keep the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law. For he is not a real Jew who is one outwardly, nor is true circumcision something external and physical.

Paul tells these Romans that when any human, even one not blessed with the wisdom of the truth given to God’s people, does what is right, they prove that God’s wisdom is in the hearts of men if they would only follow it.

Unfortunately, Paul was dealing with his own tribe of people who had had centuries of spiritual advantage, having been given the wisdom of God revealed to them through Moses and the Prophets.

To be sure, God gave this treasure to the Jews precisely so that they could share it with the world, serve as an example to the world of a society shaped by God’s wisdom, and be a blessing to the whole world through their sharing this wisdom with everyone.

But, instead, they allowed their treasure to become a source of spiritual pride and arrogance. This is a common temptation for us. I’ve even seen the very same entitled spirit in our Orthodox people.

They made what was meant for everyone, a badge of pride exclusively belonging to them, and they allowed their shortsighted pride to turn them into something they were never meant to be!

Paul speaks to them in such a way that there is no doubt where they went wrong. They boast of having the revealed wisdom of God, but then never keep it.

However, those who didn’t have such a blessing prove the Jews have no reason for arrogant, ethnic pride because these Gentiles are keeping the Law without having the benefits of the Law. Paul calls these faithful Gentiles “a law to themselves.”

We can’t escape the reality that the Faith is meant to change us and to make sure we don’t condemn others.

This is why the days following the Feast of Pentecost are so important. These days invite us to engage actively with the timeless wisdom of our faith, embracing the work of the Holy Spirit in our daily lives to transform us and make us more like Christ. On this first Friday after Pentecost, we Orthodox are filled with a treasure of advantages and spiritual wisdom. These treasures become a real judgment on us if we leave them unused or unappreciated. So, the Church gives us this passage and this season to once again be given the chance to avoid the mistakes of the past and truly be grateful to God for these spiritual treasures meant to heal us.

Today, God loves the whole world. Every person, regardless of their skin color, national origin, education, or economic status, is valued beyond worth by God. You are blessed to BE a blessing! The only purpose for Him giving His wisdom to anyone, any tribe, any nation, is so that blessed people will share it, live it, and show it to everyone else by being a Normal Orthodox Christian.

P.S. Blessed are You, O Christ our God, who made fishermen all-wise, sending upon them the Holy Spirit and, through them, netting the world. O Loving One, glory to You.

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/@FaithEncouraged

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