MEN WHO LIVE IN PROSPERITY
DO NOT LISTEN
“I spoke to you in your prosperity and you would not listen”
(Jer. 22;21).
The Lord addressed King Jehoiakim and the Jews as He chastized the Jewish people, saying: “I spoke to you in your prosperity and you would not listen.” Concerning these words God still speaks today to express the same thoughts against His own people, that is the Orthodox Christians. When we feel ourselves, content doing very well and living prosperously, then we forget or are ignorant of God and focus our full attention on everything else. God says the same thing to all of us today: “I spoke to you in your prosperity and you would not listen.” What will be our response to God? This is very important: to completely ignore God our Creator is certain death for our souls
The Lord created us from matter and created matter from nothing, and every human being is very special and extremely precious, for to no other creature did He bestow such precious gifts as upon man. He bestowed on man life, intelligence, freedom, conscience and the ability to love in his heart. He breathed His own divine spirit into man thereby elevated him to the heights, destined to progreess and become His own image and likeness. No higher destiny could be bestowed upon man or any other creature. Therefore, man is the ruler of all creation and has the highest and most noble destiny of any creature.
“I spoke to you in your prosperity and you would not listen.” Today God continues to speak to man and says “ ”I am the light of the world; he follows me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life.” Man was created by God as a free and moral creature. He is able to distinguish choose good and reject evil. He has a conscience which reminds him of the differences so that he may always make proper moral decisions. Christ the Light of the world is the Savior and only Lover of man.
Good and evil is been clearly distinguished by both God’s law and man’s conscience Man must choose only good and avoid every form of evil. Both the Old and New Testaments confirm these things, the Commandments are a perfect example, for they forbid every evil deed. The law also commands us to “do to others as we would have others do to us.” The commands of Jesus Christ and His Church exist not to control evil deeds but to guide man, leading him to become the image and likeness of God which is his proper destination.
J esus Christ is our mediator, our rabbi and teacher, our ruler and our king. He is our savior, redeemer and mediator. He is the only Godman and our great high priest. This is the most important truth about the Church of Christ, Holy Orthodoxy. God speaks these things to you in your prosperity.
Will you listen?
We cannot depend on our bishops to teach us these things, although it is their sacred duty as rulers and teachers of the Church. Thr Church is much motr than the collection of money topay for the institution of the Church. The Church is the living Body of its only Head Jesus Christ. Its function is to preach the Gospel and baptize everyone outside the Church, and spread knowledge of salvation everywhere. Conducting the the many religious aspects of the Church is extremely important and is among the many functions of the clergy, and for this reason we bestow honor on our Orthodox clergymen at all times. The Church however is led but not headed by various bishops but Jesus Christ is its only Head. And it is His will that must always be done in the Church. Every Orthodox Christian is obligated to work out his own salvation with fear and trembling for we are all destined by the Lord to everlasting life. But we are also obliged and expected to spread this important knowledge among men.
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