From: Father
Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2015 5:20 PM
A loving note from Father Nektarios Serfes:
God bless you on your path during the first week of holy & Great Lent… See you in prayer.
Thought to humbly share this with you…
The Goodness & Kindness Of Our God, by Archimandrite Nektarios Serfes
Orthodox Christianity is not a matter of persuasive words.
It is a matter of true goodness and kindness towards one another.
May the goodness and kindness of our Lord God be with you always!
Our Lord God is kind and good – but do we ever stop to think if we deserve the goodness and kindness of our God? Could we ever be that worthy?
Sometimes we think we can call upon God to perform some act of justice on our behalf, but that justice, because it comes from our own limited and selfish viewpoint turns out to be against what is best for mankind. Our purpose is to be the heralds of God’s goodness, because He provides justice and mercy to those who are worthy of them. Our Christian lives must never be lived in an atmosphere of revenge against anyone, but always showing love towards one another. The good things we do for others, whether seen or unseen, bring us many spiritual rewards. God bestows them upon us, and through His giving there is a proclamation of His love, goodness and kindness. We already know that our God is just and righteous, but to seek revenge through our imagined “justice” is not the Christian approach to God.
God Himself is good and kind to those who are evil, and He waits for them to approach Him with love and repentance, He is, after all, a patient God who is always ready to offer His repentant people that same goodness and kindness.
Remember how the Prodigal Son in Jesus’ parable left his father and family, and eventually ended up living a very impious life, filled with evil and deceit; then, after finally realizing the state he was in – his eyes were opened – he longed to return to the goodness, kindness and blessings he had known. The Prodigal Son knew in the depth of his heart that our Lord God was still good and kind, so with contrition he returned home with tears of sincere repentance. To his joy he discovered that his earthly father too accepted him home again as his respected son. This truly was great goodness and kindness. God Himself was pleased the prodigal returned home to live his life of goodness and kindness to the full once again.
Christ our Lord died on the Cross because He loved us all, and this ultimate act of goodness and kindness did not stop after His Crucifixion. It still exists today as a powerful, active force, because goodness and kindness is always the Way of God.
Let us also be like the saints of our Church who were indeed good and kind. St Mark the Monk (early 5th century) wrote the following: “The saints offer repentance not only on their own behalf, but also on behalf of their neighbor; for without active love they cannot be made perfect. So the whole universe is held together, and we are helped providentially by one another.”
Are we, as Orthodox Christians, kind and good towards one another? How good have we been during the past days and weeks? How kind have we been towards one another? When was the last time we offered some act of goodness and kindness to someone we didn’t even know, and this act this brought peace and hope to this individual? In such a selfless act, it could be that this person for the first time found a true Christian – indeed, encountered Christ through and in us. When was the last time we told our children that goodness and kindness bring many blessings, and that they too should be good and kind towards all?
Do we desire to see our God, and to behold His mercy? Then be good and kind towards everyone. As pious Orthodox Christians let our days be spent in offering goodness and kindness towards one another, and we shall see and find our God. Our good and kind God will reward us with his compassion and His love. What a blessing!
God will love the life we live when we are kind and good.
May our good and kind God be with you always!
Humbly In Christ Our True God,
+Very Rev. Archimandrite Nektarios Serfes
Who prays for you!
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Peace to your soul!
God love and bless you!
Humbly in Christ our Lord,
+ Very Reverend Archimandrite Nektarios Serfes
Who prays for you and with you!O Lord Jesus Christ Son of God have mercy on me a sinner!
The Jesus PrayerSee us at http://facebook.com/orthodoxchurchboise, http://greekchurchboise.com, and http://serfes.org
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