Take note!

A short essay by St. Tikhon Zadonsky “Note!” (7 chapters) contains instructions revealing the nature of sin and the fight against temptation. The main battle takes place in the heart and will of man. The Christian is called to constant inner work on his heart, which is the source of both sin and virtue. Victory over evil (Satan) is achieved through endurance of sorrows, love for enemies and inner correction of the heart according to the will of God. As an example, the sinfulness of gambling card games, which lead to theft and other vices, is examined. Satan tries to lead us to every sin in order to offend and anger God and destroy us. If someone does not deign to sin, but turns away from it, he stands against Satan and struggles. If anyone deigns to sin, he also obeys Satan. If someone lives in sins, he is in his power. When Satan sees that a person is opposing him, and cannot bring the person down through sin, he inflicts trouble on him either himself or through evil people, so that at least in this way the person resisting him can be brought into sin through impatience, indignation and blasphemy. And such a temptation from him is of great benefit to this person if he does not faint, but stands firm in that temptation, that is, when he generously and resignedly endures this temptation. The more a Christian man struggles against sin, and resists the devil, and is devoted to worshiping God, the more the devil arms himself and inflicts temptations on him. Therefore, we see in the books of the saints that the great saints faced great temptations and persecutions. A person, when he has endured all temptation, is then crowned by the Master of Christ, and the tempter is put to shame, because he is defeated by a weak man, who is against him like a baby against a giant. Consider whether that person would not be worthy of shame and laughter if, being cunning, strong, skilled in warfare, a small youth would be defeated and deposed? Truly, everyone would laugh at this, and the shame would be unbearable for the vanquished. Such shame and disgrace happen to the devil, a strong, crafty, cunning spirit, whom Christ, his Conqueror, gave to his servants, weak in themselves, but strengthened by His invisible power, to be trampled and shamed. In a war where people fight against people, it happens that the side that drives the other side wins. But in the Christian battle, which is waged against the devil, this is not the case. Here the devil is defeated by the person who gives in to people who offend him, forgives, and does not repay evil for evil. An even greater plague to the enemy occurs when a person not only does not repay evil for evil, but also loves his enemies, blesses those who curse him, does good to those who hate him, and prays for those who offend him and persecute him, according to the teachings of the Lord (Matthew 5:44). VI. About the card game, which has now become a custom and amusement among Christians Both gamblers want to win money from each other and use other people's property; therefore both sin against the tenth commandment: “Thou shalt not covet”; and both are thieves before God. Whoever wins also sins against the eighth commandment: “Thou shalt not steal.” And so a person, even if he has lost not only his property, but also himself, is a thief before God, since he has a heart filled with the desire for someone else’s good. For God judges a person by his heart or inner state. So not only the fornicator, murderer, thief who commits fornication, kills, and steals by deed, but also the one who wants to commit fornication, kill, and steal. Every person sins with his heart or does not sin: what a person does not have in his heart, he really does not have. Sin first begins in a person’s heart, and then manifests itself outwardly when a person deigns to do so. And bodily members are instruments of the human heart. So he kidnaps, beats, kills with his hands. With his tongue he slanderes, slanderes, scolds. He looks at the obscene with his eyes, and hears the shameful with his ears. He overeats and gets drunk with his belly, uses his legs to do evil things, mixes with his wife with his other limbs, and so on. Consequently, although a person does not commit sin through his members, but inside, in his heart, he deigns to sin, he still sins before God, for God looks at our heart and sees what is happening in it, good or evil, and will judge everyone according to our heart. The human hand will steal, the tongue will slander, the body will not commit fornication unless the heart is willing. Think the same way about card games. If you don’t desire someone else’s good in your heart, you won’t play for money. Every gambler is a thief before God, and as a thief he will appear at the judgment of Christ and be judged with the thieves. And how many other iniquities occur during that dirty game, such as: tricks, foul language, deceptions, quarrels, fights, unruly laughter, and how much sadness, indignation, cursing, crying follows from the family of the loser, and shame and dishonor to the loser himself, I will keep silent about that. So, a Christian needs to correct his heart, and then he will be correct. A right heart is one that follows the will of God, that is, what God wants, it also wants, and what God does not want, it does not want—what I wish both for myself and for you. Note also, Christian, that in His Scripture God does not speak to our body, does not say to our hands: “Do not kill,” does not say to our hands: “Do not steal,” and so on, but to the heart. Consequently, although a person does not sin with his body, does not kill with his hands, does not steal, does not commit adultery with his body, but if in his heart lust feeds fornication, becomes embittered in his heart, hates his neighbor, desires the things of others with his heart, then he commits fornication, kills, and steals. The human heart sins, even if sin does not appear outwardly. You will see this in many places of Holy Scripture if you read: see, for example, 1st Epistle of John ch. 3, verses 14 and 15, and the Gospel of Matthew ch. 5, verse 28. In the correction and renewal of the human heart, all the power (of Christianity) consists, as said above. Try to correct your heart, Christian, which requires a lot of work and achievement, for you must conquer yourself, and for this you must earnestly ask for God’s help.