Spiritual Growth versus Self-Help
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
“But it is really important to understand that you cannot and will not become holy through your own efforts if those efforts are undertaken apart from God. Because we are under the sway of the passions and evil desires. So our efforts have to be rooted in Christ and His Church. How often people come to confession and they say, “I will try to be less angry, I will try to have less lust, I will try to be more humble etc.” This completely misses the point. It sounds like self-help. Our way is the way of the saints, who try by drawing nearer to Christ on a daily basis. That is the way given to us by our great role models and teachers of the Christian life.” (Fr. James Guirgus)
“Another aspect of the image of God is relationship. We, you and I, are part of the entire creation of God. We are not islands unto ourselves. While worldly sources like self-help books on the shelves of bookstores or in our download libraries or Kindles tell us otherwise, we are not the center of all things!...Self-help is an oxymoron.” (Reverend Christopher T. Metropulos, D. Min, Henry Cloud)
“Whatever the soul may think fit to do itself, whatever care and pains it may take, relying only upon its own power, and thinking to be able to effect a perfect success by itself, without the co-operation of the Spirit, it is greatly mistaken. It is of no use for the heavenly places; it is of no use for the kingdom – that soul, which supposes that it can achieve perfect purity of itself, and by itself alone, without the Spirit.” (St. Macarius the Great)
“Spiritual life is life which takes into account the spiritual dimension of human beings. Working at our relationship with God is not like a hobby for a certain category of person, as people say, ‘He or she is the religious type’. It is not an optional extra. It is what makes our life really human. Biology and psychology, when they exclude the divine input into the human make-up, give an incomplete picture. Secular man is merely a superior animal, and actually sub-human. Without spiritual effort we will not cultivate our spirit. It cannot be obliterated, but it can be stifled and atrophied, ignored or denied. Only if we live a life which is spiritual will we ever be fully ourselves, fully reintegrated as persons. Spiritual life includes our psychological and our physical aspects. What I think and do on every level of existence affects my soul. And when my soul is touched by God’s grace, my thinking, my feeling and my body are also blessed.” (Archimandrite Kyrillos)
“…you should have the awareness that humbles you: “Without God, you can do nothing.” You must understand that at the beginning of any work it is necessary to turn to God. It’s a simple idea, but extremely important, and you also need to mature into it. We often think about God last, not first, and at first try to solve the problem ourselves. Perhaps we remember God in passing, but alas, it we don’t immediately turn to Him with all our hearts, share our problem with God and invite God into this situation. Experience comes with time, and we arrive at it gradually, in small steps. We need to take it easier; there should be no rush in spiritual life—we must live and enjoy what we have. All this will gradually come into our lives, in due time and by the will of God.” (Priest Maxim Yanyshevsky)
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