ДАРЫ БОЖИИ

Don't ask God for what the devil gives you. It is God’s nature to give a heart that is contrite and humble, sober, chaste and self-controlled, repentant and tender. These are the gifts of God, because we have the greatest need of them (6). Constant use of some kind of pleasure dulls its pleasantness and abuse of pleasure makes it insensitive over time. Thus, you need to think about how too much accessibility does not devalue pleasure: it is doubly pleasant to enjoy what is given with difficulty and not often. So our Creator arranged that the impermanence of life makes us appreciate His gifts, which are constantly present. Don’t you notice that the sun is brighter after the night, and wakefulness is more pleasant after sleep, and we value health especially when we experience the opposite state (9)? You become satiated, fatten yourself, continue to get drunk until late at night, bask on soft carpets and do not think to give an account of such a lawless use of the gifts of God - after all, wine is not for us to get drunk; food is not for us to be full; food not so that we would tear our wombs apart with them, but from the poor, unfortunate one, who is no better than a dead man, you demand a strict account, and are you not afraid of the terrible and Last Judgment of Christ? (12) You might be interested in: