There is no way you may get into trouble or, if I may say so, get hooked on things if you truly love Christ.
If you love Christ and truly want your salvation, if you indeed renounce yourself and run to Christ, no matter what the cost, you won’t experience any difficulty at all in this chaos, in this jumble of life, in all the confusion of this world.
There are certain times, times when man really feels as if God is speaking to him, as if God is touching him. Don’t let this moment go to waste. Take advantage and make good use of it.
God is full of love and compassion. And the exact moment He allows for something to happen which may hurt or subject tremendous strain on you, He does it for your own good. He lets it happen out of love. Wait and see.

God expects you to say to Him one day: “Yes, my God, I used to accept you, I used to believe in you, I used to do many religious things, but deep inside me, I had my reservations. Now, I am leaving all these behind. I believe unconditionally, absolutely, freely and I accept how you think, my God, how you act. And I am casting away this bit of mine, which doesn’t want to accept your commands, which acts as if it wants to correct you and point out things to you”.
The sacrament of marriage through the grace of God unites a couple. Even then, when two people get united in holy matrimony but stay ouside the life of Church, the sacrament doesn’t function. If the sacrament remains inactive the one ego doesn’t die along with the other and the couple does not unite in Christ.
In communal life we learn the second command, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself”.

Let us all, without exception, stand sincerely and honestly before God. Are we repentant? Do we have every intention to repent? Would we like God to visit us with His grace and grant us true repentance? This repentance would make us look at our whole state and our sins in their entirety, but also in every detail. Are we willing to receive such repentance by God? Do we really want to?
The fact that someone remains unrepentant isn’t accidental. True repentance hurts, because as a result of it, whatever good impression we may have of ourselves is battered down.
You should be brave enough, my brother, to let God through His grace move deeper into your soul, in order for the fortress of your sin to be destroyed and the true work of God to take place in your heart; this will make you feel you’re in heaven and heaven will be in you.

The case of prophet Elijah is pretty impressive. At some moment, it seemed as if the prophet had lost heart, as if he had run out of courage, as his work appeared to have failed. God allowed for things to happen in such a way that the prophet’s whole weakness showed.
There is always danger that man may take liberties or put on airs. That’s why God allows for man to be stripped off of the divine power and remain a plain man. So, whether he likes it or not, he realizes human weakness.
When we feel very weak –and things indicate that God allows it that we feel so– it’s useful to go through the experience. We shouldn’t be scared. We aren’t being rejected by God. He is preparing bigger blessings for us. We should humble ourselves and turn to Christ through prayer.
Let the prophet be an example for us, who became worthy to see God after all, just like Moses who saw the back of God on Mount Sinai.

When we shore up our very own idol inside us, which we have put on a pedestal and revere it, not even God Himself can destroy it. Not because He is weak but because He doesn’t save man by force. It is only worth it if we freely choose and desire God.
As Christian you can’t play with God. Are you Christian? No one forces you to be. But if you are, act so. And if up to this present day, you haven’t been cautious or taken things seriously “behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation”. Once you are alive this very moment, once your eyes are still open, it’s time you took matters seriously and acted accordingly.
Whoever gets a little serious he will be concerned and wonder: “How do I live?” And he changes approach. He takes a different course of action. He becomes a different man.

Do we expect the others to tolerate us, to forgive us, to be condescending, to show us understanding and love us? Let us also do the same.
You don’t need to be wise in order to bring comfort to the heart of your fellowman. Regardless of what the other person is like, we ought to love him, tolerate him, forgive him, serve him and help him.
Whoever does something for the love of Christ, he will be envied. We need to be very careful and act with discretion, so that we provoke no envy, because envy never gives up, envy doesn’t give it a rest.
Let us seek God and choose His love, even if we need to put ourselves into trouble. There can be no life in Christ without sacrifices.

Every one of us barricades himself behind his own justice. He believes the way he looks at things is absolutely right, he believes his reasoning is great, he believes every spiritual affair of his is sorted out fine. And the only problem is what’s going to happen with other people, where the entire fault lies.
However, having a good grasp of his own inner reality and his own “ungood” state, the person who has started discovering God thinks totally differently. He sees things differently and has a totally different mentality. He says that the problem is he himself. He himself is the one that has no love, no understanding or sacrificial spirit.
He blames no one, and this is how he is in good terms with everybody. Because the humble spirit softens even the hardest heart and disarms even the most prejudiced man. That’s how the road to true communion opens.
Have you ever tried it?