8. О любви к Богу: какие признаки ея

“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” (Matthew 22:37). It seems that why should we give the commandment to love God? “Ask anyone, everyone will say that he loves God, and no one will dare to say that he does not love Him.” Moreover, the feeling of love is so sweet and joyful that everyone himself, out of a desire for peace and spiritual consolation, will take care to form it in himself. Despite this, however, the commandment to love God is prescribed to us by the Lord and the holy Apostles not once or twice... but on almost every page of Holy Scripture and, moreover, with such insistence that whoever does not love the Lord - let him be excommunicated - Maran-Atha, according to the Apostle... This means, despite all the naturalness of love for God, it is possible not to love God when He Himself cares and instills it in us with commandments and protects us with threats... This means that it is possible, even while saying that we love God, not to have this love, and thus deceive both ourselves and others. Yes, brothers, it is possible. “But here’s the thing: we can deceive ourselves and deceive others, but we will never deceive God Himself.” He sees the very secrets of the heart, and because He sees, He will one day reward everyone... To whom will He say this in the hour of judgment... go away... do we not know you?.. To those who did not have love for Him, although they thought that they had it, and were considered by others to have it... What a sad mistake! - and all the more bitter because there will be no way to correct it then. So, you see, brethren, it is worth the effort to reach certainty whether we have love for God or not. And if it turns out that it does not exist, we will take care to acquire it, or revive it if it begins to fade, and strengthen it if it weakens. For he who does not love remains in death. Let us go inside ourselves and look around us in order to collect simple and common signs by which we can accurately judge this. 1) Whoever loves someone, only talks about his beloved person or object; whoever he happens to meet, either directly begins to talk about him, or soon inclines him to a mutual conversation. “So, he who loves God only willingly talks about Him and hastily directs every conversation towards Him, and when he begins to talk about Him, he cannot stop talking: he is only pleased to be there, where they talk about God and His deeds, and is bored where they are busy with other things.” – On the contrary, he who does not love God will not speak about Him himself and is alienated from those who love to talk about Him. It is pleasant for him when they talk about everyday affairs, trade, judicial, military, perhaps, scientists, but not in God's way; he willingly sits where they are engaged in news, fashion, and gossip, and runs away from where they talk about God and His works. He is inexhaustible when he talks about something empty, vain and worldly, and when the matter concerns God and the salvation of the soul, he will reluctantly say two or three words, and only that, or even this will not be said... For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. What the heart is full of, there are many words about... So let's see what our conversations are like and discover whether we have love for God or not. 2) He who loves someone willingly hurries to where he hopes to either meet his beloved and those closest to him, or receive news about him, or come across something that reminds him of him. Thus, he who loves the Lord willingly hurries to the church of God, where the Lord reveals His special presence, where believers enter into close communication with the Saints of God, presented to their eyes in images, and hear the word about Him. He who loves the Lord desires to be a communicant of the Holy Mysteries, for through this God draws closer to him, and he to God; he strains to go through the entire set of church rites and prayers, for in them he smells a trace of the fragrance of Christ, he feels sweet and warm in the church, as in his Father’s house: he carefully listens to every sacred rite and prayer here - and just as he eagerly hurries to the beginning of the service, so with some sorrow he crosses the church threshold at the end of it. And whoever does not love the Lord cannot be invited to the church; when others come here, he hurries to another place, and if he sometimes comes here, it is reluctantly, not to the beginning and not to pray; only need or custom and shame force him to somehow speak and receive communion, but there is nothing to say about other decrees or prayers... The mere thought of the Church and something churchly will chill him. Let us see what our attitude is towards the Church and its entire structure, and we will see whether we love the Lord or not. 3) He who loves someone does not let thoughts of him out of his head and, when left alone, mentally talks with him, imagining and kindly cherishing his image. – So, whoever loves the Lord does not deviate from thinking about Him, and as soon as he gains freedom, he mentally turns to Him and talks with Him warmly from the heart. - He, after the legitimate affairs required by family, or service, or industry, does not seek entertainment, but hurries to retire in order to be alone with his Lord - in order to either indulge in the thought of God, or reflect, for example, on the boundless perfections of God, on the economy of our salvation, on our final fate, etc., or stand in prayer and pray, or open some saving book, or refresh your head with the holy truths set forth there. “On the contrary, he who does not love the Lord does not like to be alone, and after necessary tasks he rushes to entertainment - to festivities, or even worse. If need forces him to be alone, what does he do? is inactive, dreams of empty things, or plots intrigues, or reads empty books. “Let us look around at what we are like in this regard and see whether we love the Lord or not.” Here are a few signs of love and dislike for God that are close to us! But there is nothing to say about this, that whoever loves the Lord strives in every possible way to please Him by fulfilling His holy will - both that which is spoken in the commandments, and that which, in addition, is revealed to each of us in the circumstances of our life. For what kind of love for God will there be in someone who does not fulfill His commandments, but clearly and consciously violates them?.. Only in that case can one see love in such people when, having somehow violated God’s commandment, they immediately come into contrition and are heartbroken because they have offended the Lord, and hasten to cleanse their sin by repentance and a promise not to sin again. And whoever, having sinned, not only does not hurt about it, but also justifies himself, is a completely almost lost person! I will not expand further... And these signs are enough to see whether there is love in us or not, and thereby console ourselves, or care for our soul. If we find that we have love for God, even in the beginnings, let us thank the Lord for the fact that He Himself began to pour this life force into our hearts. And if we find that we are cold towards God, we will grieve about it, and hasten to repay this saving fire... How? - By keeping everything that, as we said, serves as a sign of love for God - keeping it, albeit reluctantly, forcedly, self-violently... and the Lord will help. - The tree is cold by itself, but when they start rubbing wood against wood, they warm up and give off a flame. Also, when any member of the body becomes numb from cold or something else, they begin to rub it and awaken the lost feeling in it. – So when we begin to rub our soul, which has grown cold towards the Lord, by going to churches, praying at home, reading saving books, edifying conversations, frequent fasting and receiving Holy Communion. The Mysteries, without leaving, for all that, a single opportunity to fulfill the commandments, then surely our hardened heart will soften and begin to warm up with love for Him. We just need not to feel sorry for ourselves, but to force and force ourselves first... Some time will pass, and what the soul was not in for will begin to be pleasant to it... and the longer we force ourselves, the more pleasant and sweet those things will be, and then a fire will ignite in the heart, which will transform our soul into a fiery Seraphim, burning with unceasing love for the Lord... May this vouchsafe us all He who came to earth started this heavenly fire. Amen. 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