46. Желание

We see that people desire a lot of things in the world, and what they desire, they seek. But let people desire and seek what they want. Christian! You desire and seek your own, that is, what is proper and necessary for you. People wish to have happiness and prosperity in this world. Desire and try to have true piety in your heart. This is a Christian desire! People want to get rid of work and be free. You want to be freed from sinful work and to be free from sins. This is a Christian desire! This is true freedom! “Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. ...If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:34, 36). People want to defeat people. You want to conquer yourself. This is a Christian desire! What a glorious victory! People want to be masters and to command others. You desire and try to dominate and command your flesh. This is a Christian desire! This is true domination! People want to reign over people. You wish and try to reign over your passions and lusts. This is a Christian desire! The true king is the one who controls himself and his passions. “Those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Gal.5:24). That's it, gentlemen, rulers and kings! Lord help us! People want to take revenge on their enemies and ward off offense with insult. You, Christian, wish and try to yield to your enemies and reward their offense with good deeds. This is a Christian desire! This is the vengeance of true Christians! “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink: for by doing this you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom 12:20–21). People want to have a healthy body. You wish and try for your soul to be healed and healthy. This is a Christian desire! This is the health you want! People want to talk and talk to people. You wish and try to remain silent more than to speak - so that you will avoid sin. This is a Christian desire! People want to speak beautifully and smoothly. You want to live beautifully and Christianly. This is a Christian desire! People want to receive from people. You, Christian, desire and try to give to people, remembering the word of the Lord Jesus, for He Himself says: “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). People want to live in a beautiful and rich house. You desire and try to live “in the house of God, which is the Church of the Living God,... and to be fellow citizens with other saints and members of the household of God” (1 Tim. 3:15, Eph. 2:19). This is a Christian desire! This is a beautiful and rich house! "God! Who will dwell in Your habitation? Or who will dwell on Your holy mountain? He who walks uprightly and does righteousness and speaks the truth in his heart; He who has not flattered with his tongue, does not do evil to his neighbor, and has not accepted reproach against his neighbors; he in whose eyes the evil one is despised, but who glorifies those who fear the Lord; swears to his neighbor and does not break the oath; who did not lend his silver at interest and did not accept gifts against the innocent. He who does this will never be shaken" * (Ps. 14:1-5). “I have asked one thing of the Lord, this only will I seek, that I may abide in the house of the Lord all the days of my life” (Ps. 26:4). "God! I have loved the splendor of Your house and the place where Your glory dwells. ...Do not destroy my soul with the wicked and my life with the bloodthirsty, who have iniquity in their hands and whose right hand is filled with bribery. And I walked in my goodness. Deliver me, O Lord, and have mercy on me” (Ps. 25:8-11). “I preferred rather to cast myself down at the house of my God than to live in the houses of sinners” (Ps. 83:11). People want to walk around in beautiful and rich attire. You wish and try to “put on... mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering” and so on. (Col 3:12). This is a Christian desire! Here is a wonderful Christian robe! With this utensil the Christian soul, like a royal daughter, is adorned. People want to satisfy their belly. Desire and try to saturate your soul with the word of God and good and holy thoughts. This is a Christian desire! Here is the sweet food of the Christian soul! People want sweet and expensive wine. Desire tears and spiritual weeping - may your heart rejoice in God, your Savior. This is a Christian desire! Behold the sweet wine of the saints! Anyone who wants to have true joy must first cry quite a lot. People wish to have friendship with the noble and glorious of this world. Desire and try to have friendship with Christ and His saints. This is a Christian desire! This is a glorious and sweet union. “He who is united to the Lord is one spirit with the Lord” (1 Cor. 6:17). “You are my friends,” says the Lord, “if you do what I command you” (John 15:14). Friendship is mutual love. Christ loved you, love Him too - and there will be friendship. “It is good for me to be united with God” (Ps. 72:28). People want to receive the King in their home. You wish and try to receive the Heavenly King - Jesus Christ - in the house of your heart. “Whoever loves Me will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make our home with him” (John 14:23). Oh, blessed is the heart in which the Trinitarian God dwells! There is the kingdom of God, there is a paradise of sweetness and joy. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me” (Rev. 3:20). O Jesus, Shepherd and Visitor of our souls! Do not pass me by, Thy sinful servant, and let me hear Thy voice, for Thy voice is sweet, and Thy coming is salutary and peaceful. “My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready” (Ps. 107:2). People wish to have strong people as protectors and helpers. You wish and try to have God as your Helper and Protector. This is a Christian desire! This is the faithful Helper and Protector! “God, please help me! Lord, seek my help! You are my helper, I sing to you: for you are God, my Protector, my God, my mercy” (Ps. 69:2, 58:18)! People want to have wealth in this world. You wish and try to become rich in good deeds. This is true Christian wealth! People want to have fame and praise in this world. Desire and try to avoid this and you will have true glory. This is a Christian desire! This is true glory and praise - to despise the glory and praise of the world! People want to know a lot and seem wise. You desire and try to know yourself most of all. This is Christian wisdom! People want to know what is going on there and there. Do you wish and try to consider what is happening in your soul, what state it is in, what thoughts, desires and undertakings it produces, what does it strive for - eternity or time? Where does she collect her treasure - in heaven or on earth? What does it join to – God or the world? This is necessary and necessary knowledge! “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The lamp for the body is the eye. So, if your eye is clean, then your whole body will be bright; if your eye is bad, then your whole body will be dark. Therefore, if the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness” (Matthew 6:21–23)? People want to please others. You desire and try to please your Lord God. “If I were still pleasing men, I would not be a servant of Christ” (Gal. 1:10). But it is also written: “Each of us should please his neighbor for his good and his edification” (Rom. 15:2). And when we please people in this way, we please God, since God commanded us to please people. People want to calm the body. You wish and try to calm and pacify your conscience and your mind from evil and vain thoughts. This is a Christian desire! Here is godly peace and Christian Sabbath! People desire strength and bodily strength. You wish for strength and spiritual strength. This is a Christian desire! This is true strength and strength - to be motionless in temptations, in troubles and misfortunes! “Lord, according to Your will, give strength to my kindness” (Ps. 29:8). “The Lord will give strength to His people, the Lord will bless His people with peace” (Ps. 28:11). “The Lord is my strength and my song, and he was my salvation” (Ps. 118:14). “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me” (2 Cor. 12:9). People want to live long. You, Christian, wish to die blissfully. “Remember me, O Lord, when You come into Your kingdom” (Luke 23:42)! “For Thy name’s sake, guide me and feed me, bring me out of this snare that they have hidden for me, for You are my Protector, O Lord, into Your hands I commit my spirit” (Ps. 30:4-6). “My soul will live and praise You” (Ps. 119:175). “Blessed be the Lord, who did not give us as prey to their teeth! Our soul is delivered like a bird from the snare of those who catch it: the net is broken, and we are delivered” (Ps. 123:6-7). People want to be in favor with Kings, princes and nobles. You, Christian, wish and try to be in the mercy of God, the Almighty, the Heavenly King. “Do not trust in princes, in the sons of men, in whom there is no salvation” (Ps. 146:3). “But you, like men, die and fall, like any prince” (Ps. 82:7). “Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever: do not despise the works of Your hands” (Ps. 137:8). “Let Your mercy, O Lord, be upon us, for we have trusted in You” (Ps. 32:22). “It is better to trust in the Lord than to trust in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to trust in princes” (Ps. 118:8-9). People want to see the Tsar or a high-ranking official. You, a Christian, desire and try most of all to see God. This is the end of all wishes! “What is in heaven for me? And without You, what do I want on earth? My heart and my flesh fail, O God of my heart and my portion, O God, forever” (Ps. 72:25-26). “As a deer longs for springs of water... so longs my soul for You, O God! My soul thirsted for the Mighty, Living God: when I come and appear to the face of God” (Ps. 42:2-3). “The God of gods will appear in Zion” (Ps. 83:8). “Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face” (1 Cor. 13:12). And “we will see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2). “Pursue to have peace with everyone and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14). “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8). Here, beloved Christian, are the desires of the Christian soul! These are the sighs and inner movements of a Christian who cares about his salvation! He who diligently desires something diligently seeks and obtains it. “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you; For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8). You too, my soul, desire and seek your goodness, your health, your wealth, your peace and quiet, and so on. “You have heard the desires of the poor, O Lord. Thy ear heard the devotion of their hearts” (Ps. 9:38). "God! All my desires are before You, and my sighing is not hidden from You. My heart was troubled; My strength has forsaken me, and the light of my eyes, and I have none of that, and so on. Forsake me not, O Lord my God! Do not retreat from Mene; attend to my help, O Lord of my salvation” (Ps. 37:10–11, 22–23)! Translation by P. Yungerov – Editorial office of “The ABC of Faith” You might be interested in: