Thanks to my dear friend Presbytera Candace for the following brief, and humble, saying of an anonymous elder, on humility…The valleys below are nearly always fertile and fruitful, while the high mountains are for the most part dry and unsuitable for agriculture. Similarly, an ear of wheat which stands with its head up is always empty, whereas the one bent down has many grains. Have a humble heart, and you will be enriched with all that is needed for salvation.
— An Elder’s Counsels for Christians Living in the World
Hi. I haven't left any comments in a long, long time, but I think of you. Anyway, another way of looking at this (and one that would better suit Lutherans' view of salvation) is that those bearing rich gifts of sanctification may look the most weighed down to the world. God bless!!!
ReplyDeleteMarie, I didn't think that the Lutheran view of salvation was really any different than the Orthodox, but I'll take your word for it.
ReplyDeleteWhat you wrote is a good description of the effects of God's grace in a person, but it seems that you are not talking about humility, but rather how the world views people who are living saints. I'm not even sure that the world looks on them with a single view.
Our visible lives are our irrefutable and undisguisable testimony to the world about Christ, revealing whether we are serving one Master or two. If it is one, then the world will see in us another Christ, and be brought to a point of decision. If it is two, they will only see one of themselves, whether we load ourselves with burdens or not, and they will never be given a real choice by seeing us. Christ will still be hidden from them.