Chrysostom
Beloved of All
You speak of a heavy season, a soul wearied and pressed down. Hear then the apostolic counsel: "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no one shall see the Lord." You seek peace of mind and heart, yet the peace Christ gives is not the world's hollow truce, where robbers agree together. His peace cuts away the diseased, amputates the mutinous thought, and so unites heaven to earth. This peace you must pursue earnestly, for it is a type of the heavenly peace the presiding minister pronounces, and you must receive it with alacrity in your heart before ever you approach the sacred mysteries.
But how shall you find strength when you are drained dry? Consider the golden chain about the neck of the wealthy child, never cast off. Bind mercy and truth about your own soul, and let them never forsake you. You ask for urgent financial breakthrough, yet you know that all wars and strivings spring from riches. He that learns to give alms as he ought learns to despise wealth. He cuts up the root of a thousand evils. He no longer envies or fears loss, for he has parted with his own goods freely. Do not merely wait for provision; rather, let your very need teach you this philosophy. When you open your hand in mercy, even in your poverty, you clear the eye of your soul. You place yourself in a quiet harbor, and the Prince of Peace draws near.
Do not say you have given once or twice and now find yourself exhausted. The racer, having run ten heats, loses all if he leaves the last undone. So with you: mercy and good works are a lifelong garment, not a single cloak. If you continue in them without fainting, you will see the heel of your weariness crushed. For what is heaviness of heart but the soul dragging itself upon the ground? Almsgiving lifts it aloft; it makes the soul philosophical, elevated, and truly wealthy, even with nothing in hand. This is the restoration you seek, not a removal of trial, but a renovation within.
You ask for discernment regarding what you learn, that everything may draw you closer to Christ. Be careful then: the practical and common-sense interpretation of Scripture, which you find in teachers like ###, must always kindle love and peace, not mere intellectual dexterity. If your learning does not make your neck graceful with mercy, it is hollow. Look to the Philippians, how the jailor ran and was baptized with all his house, how they sent aid to the Apostle again and again. Their faith was active in love; they were of one mind, which was their greatest safety. So must you be: flee the discord of those who merely dispute doctrine, and cling to the unison of humility.
You fear making wrong decisions under pressure, compromising your values. Hold fast then to this: never in any place did Paul need to reprove the Philippians, for their virtue left no room. Strive to be such a one; let your life be so ordered that no fair reproof can find a foothold. And when the enemy whispers that this season will last forever, remember that the Apostle’s bonds fell out rather to the progress of the Gospel. Your invisible chains may yet advance the Kingdom more than all your imagined freedom. The Lord is at hand; therefore be anxious for nothing, but in everything let your requests be made known to God.
Above all, do not lose mercy. If from mercy God became man, much more will mercy raise you, a servant, into His own house. She is known to the heavenly porters; she brings her nurslings in with boldness, and no one will gainsay her. If your faith is tested, let your alms be true, not of fraud or rapine, but of your genuine substance. Then, even if you walk through a valley of exhaustion, you shall not be abandoned. A genuine breakthrough is not simply a changing of your circumstances, but the soul learning to rest securely in the One who gives His peace, a peace not of this world.
But how shall you find strength when you are drained dry? Consider the golden chain about the neck of the wealthy child, never cast off. Bind mercy and truth about your own soul, and let them never forsake you. You ask for urgent financial breakthrough, yet you know that all wars and strivings spring from riches. He that learns to give alms as he ought learns to despise wealth. He cuts up the root of a thousand evils. He no longer envies or fears loss, for he has parted with his own goods freely. Do not merely wait for provision; rather, let your very need teach you this philosophy. When you open your hand in mercy, even in your poverty, you clear the eye of your soul. You place yourself in a quiet harbor, and the Prince of Peace draws near.
Do not say you have given once or twice and now find yourself exhausted. The racer, having run ten heats, loses all if he leaves the last undone. So with you: mercy and good works are a lifelong garment, not a single cloak. If you continue in them without fainting, you will see the heel of your weariness crushed. For what is heaviness of heart but the soul dragging itself upon the ground? Almsgiving lifts it aloft; it makes the soul philosophical, elevated, and truly wealthy, even with nothing in hand. This is the restoration you seek, not a removal of trial, but a renovation within.
You ask for discernment regarding what you learn, that everything may draw you closer to Christ. Be careful then: the practical and common-sense interpretation of Scripture, which you find in teachers like ###, must always kindle love and peace, not mere intellectual dexterity. If your learning does not make your neck graceful with mercy, it is hollow. Look to the Philippians, how the jailor ran and was baptized with all his house, how they sent aid to the Apostle again and again. Their faith was active in love; they were of one mind, which was their greatest safety. So must you be: flee the discord of those who merely dispute doctrine, and cling to the unison of humility.
You fear making wrong decisions under pressure, compromising your values. Hold fast then to this: never in any place did Paul need to reprove the Philippians, for their virtue left no room. Strive to be such a one; let your life be so ordered that no fair reproof can find a foothold. And when the enemy whispers that this season will last forever, remember that the Apostle’s bonds fell out rather to the progress of the Gospel. Your invisible chains may yet advance the Kingdom more than all your imagined freedom. The Lord is at hand; therefore be anxious for nothing, but in everything let your requests be made known to God.
Above all, do not lose mercy. If from mercy God became man, much more will mercy raise you, a servant, into His own house. She is known to the heavenly porters; she brings her nurslings in with boldness, and no one will gainsay her. If your faith is tested, let your alms be true, not of fraud or rapine, but of your genuine substance. Then, even if you walk through a valley of exhaustion, you shall not be abandoned. A genuine breakthrough is not simply a changing of your circumstances, but the soul learning to rest securely in the One who gives His peace, a peace not of this world.
