The Morning Offering

I just discovered the blog of an Orthodox monk, Abbot Tryphon, called The Morning Offering. In it, he recently shared a quote that speaks volumes to me.

…. It was only when I lay there on rotting prison straw that I sensed within myself the first stirrings of good. Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either, but right through every human heart, and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. Even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained; and even in the best of all hearts, there remains a small corner of evil.

…. If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?"

- Alexandr Solzhenitsyn

When we think of Jesus, many people envision a Lord who is tolerant... even rather indulgent at times...  of men and their sinfulness. And I do believe that the desire of God's heart is to be forgiving of and reconciled with each of us. But the "tolerant and indulgent" Jesus didn't have much patience with self-righteousness. And perhaps the quote from Solzhenitsyn can help us to understand why this is so.

When we sit in judgment of other people, we are blinded to our own shortcomings. And when we fail to recognize our own sinfulness, pride conquers conquers any vestiges of humility in our hearts.

In Luke 18, we find the familiar story of the two men - one self-righteous and one humble - who went to the Temple to pray. The NASB translation of the prayer of the self-satisfied Pharisee is interesting: "The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself.: 'God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.'" He was so busy looking at the sin of the tax collector and at his own virtuousness that he didn't really see God. He was even praying to himself!

When our objective is to somehow justify ourselves before God by denigrating others, spiritual blindness results. But a passage in 1 John 4, 11-12 shows us how to clear up our foggy vision:

Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

Today, let us love each other and, in so doing, God will be revealed in us and to us.

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