By St. John Maximovitch
"God is a consuming fire" (Heb. 12:29). When an object touches fire, it changes: it either burns out or hardens.
So a person, touching God, either perishes or is saved.
Fire is always fire! But from touching it, both ashes and steel are obtained, depending on what it touches.
This happens with a person, and everything depends on what he brings to the Divine fire - in what state he touches God. If he holds himself like iron, then iron will strengthen and become steel. If he blooms to the weakness of the straw, it will burn.
Every person, sooner or later, will inevitably touch God, and woe to him if he does not prepare for that meeting.
Tolstoy carelessly, self-confidently, and not in the fear of God, approached God, took communion unworthily, and became an apostate.
The hour will come when there will be a touch with God's power, whether we like it or not.
The shovel is in the hand of the Lord. Grain and straw are tossed with a shovel, the latter is carried away by the wind, while the grain falls at the feet of the Master and is collected in granaries, and the straw is left or burned.
A meeting with the Lord is inevitable and we must prepare for it.
Our sins are straw that burns at this meeting. It is necessary to pronounce judgment on yourself in advance and, in preparation for that meeting, separate yourself from the straw, burn the straw of sins with repentance.
Either they are burned alone, or the person who has surrendered to sin burns with them.
You need to know about the Last Judgment and treat that day and event as you should. You need to cleanse your soul, you need to pray.
That event must be treated clearly and consciously, and not like an animal that hides its head so as not to see the danger.
So a person, touching God, either perishes or is saved.
Fire is always fire! But from touching it, both ashes and steel are obtained, depending on what it touches.
This happens with a person, and everything depends on what he brings to the Divine fire - in what state he touches God. If he holds himself like iron, then iron will strengthen and become steel. If he blooms to the weakness of the straw, it will burn.
Every person, sooner or later, will inevitably touch God, and woe to him if he does not prepare for that meeting.
Tolstoy carelessly, self-confidently, and not in the fear of God, approached God, took communion unworthily, and became an apostate.
The hour will come when there will be a touch with God's power, whether we like it or not.
The shovel is in the hand of the Lord. Grain and straw are tossed with a shovel, the latter is carried away by the wind, while the grain falls at the feet of the Master and is collected in granaries, and the straw is left or burned.
A meeting with the Lord is inevitable and we must prepare for it.
Our sins are straw that burns at this meeting. It is necessary to pronounce judgment on yourself in advance and, in preparation for that meeting, separate yourself from the straw, burn the straw of sins with repentance.
Either they are burned alone, or the person who has surrendered to sin burns with them.
You need to know about the Last Judgment and treat that day and event as you should. You need to cleanse your soul, you need to pray.
That event must be treated clearly and consciously, and not like an animal that hides its head so as not to see the danger.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
