Достоинство

Just as Christ, the Son of God, in the days of His life in the flesh and humility was humbled and dishonored more than all the sons of men, as the prophet foretold about Him: He was despised and humbled before men (Isa. 53:3), and the Gospel testifies to the same thing - so Christians who believe in Him with their hearts and follow Him with love see nothing other than contempt, reproach, humiliation from the evil world. But as far as their inner dignity and honor are concerned, no one is higher than them. Now this dignity is not visible, for it is seen by faith, and not with bodily eyes, but it will be revealed to the whole world when this corruptible is clothed with incorruptibility and this mortal is clothed with immortality (1 Cor. 15:54). The Holy Word of God reveals the dignity of Christians and presents us with consolation: 1. God is their Father, to whom they pray: Our Father, who art in heaven (Matthew 6:9), and they are the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus, as the Apostle says: you are all sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus (Gal. 3:26). The world considers it great to be a child of an earthly king, but how incomparably greater is the dignity of being a child of the Most High God, the King of heaven and earth, to have as a Father God the beginningless, infinite, immortal, indescribable, omnipotent, King of kings and Lord of lords - the human mind does not comprehend this title! All the glory of this world is nothing before this. Looking at this, the viewer of the mysteries of God, Saint John, is surprised and says to the faithful: look what love the Father has given us, that we should be called and be children of God (1 John 3:1). 2. True Christians are Christ's brothers, for He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying: I will proclaim Your name to My brethren (Heb. 2:11-12; Ps. 21:23). And he says to the myrrh-bearing women: go, tell my brothers (Matthew 28:10), and to Mary Magdalene: go to my brothers and tell them: I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God (John 20:17). Look, dear Christian, to what heights Christians have been raised: brothers to the Lord of heaven and earth! There can be no higher dignity than this. But the love for mankind is also inscrutable of the Son of God! It is surprising when an earthly king even calls his subjects his brethren, although he himself is the same person as his subjects. Christ, the Heavenly King and the Son of God, is not ashamed to call people His brothers. Who is this philanthropic Son of God who can comprehend such honor among brothers? Knowing this, let the masters be ashamed, who do not want to consider their slaves, people like themselves, as their brothers, but instead support them. 3. They have fellowship with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ, as the apostle says: our fellowship is with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ (1 John 1:3). And Saint Paul speaks of the same thing: God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord (1 Cor. 1:9). Therefore, He is not ashamed to call His faithful friends: you are My friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I called you friends, because I told you everything that I heard from My Father (John 15:14-15). All of the above reveals the most august nobility, higher than human words and concepts, higher than any title of the royal and monarchical world of this world... 4. Christians are members of the body of Christ, as the apostle says: members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones (Eph. 5:30). And he says to the faithful Corinthians: Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ (1 Cor. 6:15)? And further: you are the body of Christ, and individually you are members (1 Cor. 12:27). What is it like to be a living member of the body of Christ and have Christ as the Head of the heavenly world! And such a union of the faithful with Christ, as members with their head, is meant to be mysterious and spiritual. 5. Christians are the dwellings of God, as Holy Scripture testifies to. He who loves Me will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make our abode with him (John 14:23), says Christ. And the apostle says: don’t you know that you are the church of God (1 Cor. 3:16)? And further: don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who lives in you, which you have from God, and you are not your own (1 Cor. 6:19)? And one more thing: you are the church of the Living God, as God said: I will dwell in them and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they will be My people (2 Cor. 6:16). And in other places this is evidenced. Oh, how great is this advantage of Christians, that they are the dwellings of the Most Holy Trinity and the church of the living God! It is considered a great thing to receive an earthly monarch into the house, but an incomparably greater thing is to receive to mortal man, earth and dust, God, the Heavenly King, and not only to receive Him, but also to have Him among the living! This is nothing other than having the Kingdom of God within yourself (Luke 17:21). Blessed and kind is the heart that has been vouchsafed to acquire this heavenly treasure! Think about this, dear Christian, and marvel at the goodness of our God. God dwells in man!.. And learn what a true Christian is. This is his nobility, dignity and advantage! What kind of good and bliss will not be there, where is the highest and infinite Good?! 6. Christians mystically partake of the Body and Blood of Christ and nourish their souls with this spiritual food and drink. How great this is, Christian, you can know when you judge who and Whom you are communing with! 7. Christians talk with God in prayer. It is considered a great honor to converse with an earthly king. Is it a small thing for a person to talk with God, for an earthly person with the Heavenly, and for a creature with the Creator, and for a mortal with the Immortal, and for a slave with the Most High Lord?! 8. God commanded Christian Angels to serve: aren’t they all ministering spirits sent to serve for those who will inherit salvation (Heb. 1:14)? - and they guard them and encamp around them: the Angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him (Ps. 33:8)… 9. The high and completely heavenly nobility of Christians is rewarded both from the fatherland, which is heaven (Phil. 3:20), and from the inheritance, which is incorruptible, pure, unfading and stored in heaven (1 Pet. 1:4). This is Christian nobility, dear Christian! This is the dignity of God's faithful servants! This is the advantage of those who worship the Most High God with faith and love! Это их богатство, честь, и слава, и сокровище неоцененное, которое они внутри себя носят! What wealth, honor, glory, title, nobility, dignity, advantage of this world can compare with all its treasures? Like dirt against gold, like pus against fragrant aromas, like darkness against light, or even like nothing against all good. You will recognize this as true when by faith you imagine the glory of the children of God. This highest grace was deserved to people by the Son of God Jesus Christ, who gave to believers in His name the power to become children of God, who were born neither of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but of God (John 1:12-13), given by the Heavenly Father, and accomplished by the Holy Spirit. Think about yourself and find out what you are and what your dignity is. The holy prophet sings, or rather weeps, about man: man, being in honor, did not understand this, became equal to senseless beasts and became like them (Ps. 48:13). Man was in honor, honored by God, but he did not understand his honor and therefore became like animals. He was dissatisfied with the fact that he was honored in the image of God, but he wanted to be God, which was impossible to be, and therefore he lost what he had and found what he did not want: he lost the beauty of the image of God and became ugly and senseless, like an animal. Reason about this diligently, and then you will correctly reason about the wealth, honor and glory given. What is a person worthy of when he has become like cattle, except what is your cattle? Is he worthy of wealth, honor and glory who lives on earth and is not worthy of a loaf of bread... What can we say about someone who, having been washed and sanctified by Baptism, has again desecrated himself and desecrated himself with bestial morals? What happens to this is according to the true proverb: the dog returns to his vomit, and the washed pig goes to wallow in the mud (2 Pet. 2:22). Think about this and about yourself, and then you will see that there is wealth, honor and glory for us. Those who now do not recognize and do not recognize their unworthiness will then recognize it when, instead of the wealth, honor and temporary glory that they considered themselves worthy of, they will be in eternal poverty, dishonor and disgrace. Then they will realize that just as they were unworthy of all this, they also sought unworthily. Their conscience will show them what their worth is. Then the greatness of God, which they angered, and their own meanness and insignificance, which they did not want to recognize and acknowledge, will be revealed to them. They will see how sin makes a person unworthy, vile, poor, damned and destroyed. For every sin offends the greatness of God. And the fact that God gives us His goodness is because He is good, He gives it according to His goodness and mercy alone, freely and without any merit of ours. And our dignity is worthy of nothing other than temporary and eternal punishment.