Thoughts on Freedom and Discipline, Quotes of the Day, June 29, 2016
“The Christian life involves both freedom and discipline…Freedom is not the absence of constraints but finding the right ones, those that fit our nature and liberate us…Freedom in Christ…means taking every opportunity to serve and to become the best person you can be.” (Life Application Study Bible, 1 Corinthians 9:19-27, Philippians 3:17-21, Pastor Timothy Keller)
“A fish is free as long as it stays in the water. If it suddenly declares that it wants its freedom to fly in the air like a bird, disaster occurs. A train is free as long as it stays on the track. However, if it demands freedom to take off down a major highway, the result is destruction and devastation. We too can only experience true freedom in its fullest if we remain within the framework of freedom. Often this requires accepting responsibility and practicing discipline.” (Gigi Graham Tchividjian)
“Freedom is not just freedom from restraint; freedom is freedom to do what God has empowered you to do.” (Mel Lawrenz)
“It is important to remember that our God did not create us as puppets, but rather as persons with the freedom to respond, or not, to His invitation to enter into communion with Him.” (Abbott Tryphon)
“The way we gain communion with and knowledge of God is from the heart to the mind, not the mind to the heart. This is why ritualistic worship, prayer, fasting, giving, Church services, and other disciplines are incredibly important. These practices may seem archaic, even silly, in the postmodern world but the postmodern world in many ways is a world created by our intellectualism in which we cater, even in religious circles, to our ego and to some extent worship ourselves, which is the wall that separates us from God.” (Sacramental Living)
Thoughts on Condemning, Quotes of the Day, June 30, 2016
“…Christians tend to be more condemning of physical sins (especially sexual sins) than they are of spiritual sins. When it comes to pride, we have a tendency to shrug our shoulders and say, “Everyone is proud. No one is perfect.” But we should never be so dismissive of pride.” (Archimandrite Vassilios Papavassiliou)
“To pass judgment is to usurp shamelessly a prerogative of God because only someone without sin has any right to pass judgment. Thus with these simple words the Lord shamed those who were ready to stone an adulteress: “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first” (John 8:7). Note that He did not say, “he who has never committed adultery,” but “he who is without sin.” There may be sins we have not committed, and we get on our moral high
horse and condemn others because they commit a specific kind of sin that we have not.” (Archimandrite Vassilios Papavassiliou, St. John Climacus)
“If we allow ourselves to belittle others, either because of their appearance or because of their state in life, we dismiss the truth that God can, in His divine providence, transform anyone into a saint. The person who seems to have succumbed to a worldly life…could be in the process of coming into an awareness of God. Our judging her or shunning her could hamper this process. Human weakness can be changed by divine power. We must recognize this truth so that we never condemn or judge another.” (Abbott Tryphon)
“When we judge ourselves honestly, with God’s help, we naturally turn to Him and confess our sins as an effort to restore our spiritual health. God is faithful to forgive and to heal (1 Jn 1:9), and in the process we find that we are not condemned. Our relationships with fellow Christians also benefit, for self-examination and self-judgment break down the barriers between us.” (Dynamis 7/27/2015)
“All so called punishment in Christianity is meant to be therapeutic with the hopes of rehabilitation for the sinner. Not understanding this and Christ’s example is what can lead to our extreme attitudes of punitive condemnation for our own sense of satisfaction…We need to put on Christ and avoid this harsh condemning and mindless condoning in our thoughts and action. Neither is loving. Neither is healing. If we condemn someone where is the love of Christ in that? If we condone their wrong behavior or areas where they fall short aren’t we just helping them to perpetuate it and being enablers?” (Sacramental Living Podcast)
~Michael Haldas, https://www.ancientfaith.com/contributors/michael_haldas.
Michael Haldas is an author, a religious educator and a speaker. He wrote Sacramental Living: Understanding Christianity as a Way of Life (published by Eastern Christian Publications), a book which he presented special editions of as gifts to Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in private audiences. Michael is also published monthly in Theosis Magazine and he has authored several Orthodox Christian themed articles for various publications. Additionally, he has recorded and contributed to multiple YouTube, DVD and CD educational projects. He teaches adult religious education and high school Sunday school at the Greek Orthodox Church of St. George in Bethesda, Maryland and has worked with the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese Religious Education Department to create educational lessons and materials.
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