3. Отец и дети

Children are born from the father. Likewise, Christians, renewed people and sons of God by grace, are born of God. “And to those who received Him (Christ, the Son of God), to those who believed on His name He gave power to become children of God, who were born neither of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12–13). Children are born from the seed of the father. Christians are born by water and the Spirit, the word of God and faith. “When He desired, He begat us with the word of truth” (James 1:18). “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible seed, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever” (1 Peter 1:23). Children are born from the father according to the flesh. Christians are born of God according to the Spirit. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6). In children, the quality and likeness of the Father are noted. Likewise, Christians should have the quality and likeness of the Heavenly Father. They must also be holy, good, merciful, meek, patient, and so on. So they are told: “following the example of the Holy One who called you, be holy in all your actions. For it is written: Be holy, for I am Holy” (1 Peter 1:15–16). “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36). What children see in their father is what they try to do themselves. Likewise, Christians should, in whatever way they can, imitate their Heavenly Father. “Be imitators of God, as beloved children” (Eph. 5:1). God will not offend anyone - so they should not offend anyone. God does good to everyone, so they should do good to everyone. God forgives the sins of all who repent - so Christians should forgive people their sins. God hates sin - so Christians should hate sin and avoid it. God “wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4), so Christians should heartily desire salvation for everyone. A father loves his children and children love their father. So God loves Christians, and Christians should love God as their Father with all their hearts. Children please their father. Likewise, Christians must please God, their Father. Children are careful of everything that offends their father. Likewise, Christians must always distance themselves from that which offends their Heavenly Father. And every sin and contempt for virtue offends. Father with children and children with father talking lovingly. So God speaks lovingly with faithful souls in the Holy Scriptures, and faithful souls speak kindly with God in prayer and in praise. Oh, the kind and sweet conversation that happens between the majesty of God and the vile man who is earth and ashes! "God! What is man, that You revealed yourself to Him, or the son of man, that You think about him?” * (Ps. 143:3). The father rejoices at his children, and the children are mutually comforted by their father. So the Heavenly Father rejoices at faithful souls, and faithful souls rejoice in Him. “My heart and my flesh rejoice in the living God” (Ps. 83:3). Children call their father “father” or “father” out of love. So Christians, out of love, call God Father and cry out to Him: “Abba, Father!” (Rom 8:15). “And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying: “Abba, Father!” (Gal.4:6). “Our Father, who art in heaven!” (Matthew 6:9). Children ask their father for everything, but the father does not give them everything, but only what they need and what is useful. Likewise, Christians ask their Heavenly Father for everything, but He does not give them everything, but only what is necessary and useful. “Is there a man among you who, when his son asks him for bread, would give him a stone, and when he asks for a fish, would give him a snake? So if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him” (Matthew 7:9-11). Children act reverently before their father, do not do or say anything obscene, and show him all respect. Likewise, Christians, before the omnipresent and all-seeing God, must walk with fear and reverence, do nothing, say nothing, and not think indecently. The father takes care of the children, cares for them and raises them. So God cares for Christians, cares for them and educates them with His word and life-giving Mysteries. Children resort to the protection of their father from the slander of evil people. So Christians also resort to the protection and protection of the Heavenly Father from the slander of the devil and his evil servants. “Father,...deliver us from evil” (Matthew 6:13). They dare and sing: “God is our refuge and strength, our Helper in the sorrows that befall us” (Ps. 45:2). The father punishes children for mistakes, but with love. So God, the Heavenly Father, punishes Christians for their sins not out of anger, but out of love. “For the Lord punishes whomever he loves; he beats every son whom he receives. If you suffer punishment, then God treats you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline” (Heb. 12:6–7)? Good children humble themselves, confess their mistakes and admit they are guilty before their father. Likewise, Christians must humble themselves, confess their sins from the heart, admit their untruths and confess: “It is good for me that You have humbled me” (Ps. 119:71). The father punishes his children so that they are honest. God disciplines us so that we may have a share in His holiness (Heb. 12:10). A father prepares an inheritance for his children. So God prepares for Christians an inheritance of eternal life and the kingdom of heaven. The father gives an inheritance to his children in due time. So God, when the time comes, will give an inheritance to Christians and comfortingly say to them: “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). Good children try to act honestly everywhere so as not to dishonor the name of their father. This is how Christians must live before people, so that the name of God is not blasphemed. A father is glorified and praised when his children consistently live well. This is how the name of the Heavenly Father is glorified when Christians live piously and worthy of the title. The Lord calls us to this: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matt. 5:16). Children, no matter how much they honor and please their father, pay tribute to him as a parent, educator and provider, otherwise they would be ungrateful. Likewise, Christians, no matter how hard they try to please the Heavenly Father, give their due and thus cannot earn anything. But what they receive from God is received for free. We cannot repay God in any way for His shown and demonstrated good deeds to us, but we always remain debtors to Him. Children, when someone dishonors or offends them in front of their father, do not take revenge on the offender themselves, but look to their father and entrust their offense to him. Likewise, Christians should, when someone offends them, not take revenge for themselves, but lift up their intelligent eyes to their Heavenly Father and hand over vengeance to Him who judges righteously, to Him who says: “Vengeance is mine, I will repay” (Rom. 12:19). The father, even after sufficient punishment, renounces his fickle and faulty son, deprives him of his inheritance and lets him live according to his own will. Likewise, the Heavenly Father renounces faulty Christians who do not want to listen to Him, excludes them from inheriting eternal life and allows them to live according to their will. “But my people did not hearken to my voice, and Israel did not hearken to me; and I have left them to the plans of their hearts, that they may go according to their plans” (Ps. 80:12-13). The father does not punish other people's children, although he sees them as faulty. Likewise, the Heavenly Father leaves those people who are not His relatives and not at home without punishment, as if they were not His own: “If you remain without punishment, to which all are involved, then you are illegitimate children, and not sons” (Heb. 12:8). The father not only punishes his children, but also consoles them. So the Heavenly Father not only punishes His children, true Christians, but also comforts them. “He who humbles himself will have mercy according to the abundance of His mercy” (Lamentations 3:32). “When my sorrows multiplied in my heart, did Your consolations make my soul glad” (Ps. 93:19). Think, Christian, and note what God is like towards Christians and what Christians should be like towards God. Hence Christian consolation and joy: 1) What a close union and communion true Christians have with God! Such as children with their father: “And our fellowship is with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ,” says the apostle (1 John 1:3). How great and glorious this thing is is impossible to comprehend with the mind. 2) How great and high is the dignity of Christians! It is a great lot to be the child of a certain master, especially a nobleman, and much more so to be the child of a king. How incomparably greater it is to be a child of God! The holy apostle is surprised at this and says: “Look what love the Father has given us, that we should be called and be children of God. The world does not know us because it has not known Him” (1 John 3:1). 3) If Christians are children of God, then what glory will they be clothed with when the children of God are revealed! The Earthly King dresses his children in beautiful and light clothes. What glorious and bright garments will the children of God clothe themselves in! “He will transform our lowly body so that it will be conformed to His glorious body” (Phil. 3:21). “Beloved! We are now children of God; but it has not yet been revealed what we will be. We only know that when He is revealed, we will be like Him, because we will see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2). “Remember us, O Lord, with favor towards your people; visit us with Your salvation, so that... we may see the prosperity of Your chosen ones, rejoice in the joy of Your people, rejoice in Your inheritance” (Ps. 106:4-5). Translation by P. Yungerov – Editorial office of “The ABC of Faith” You might be interested in: