Monday, December 9 (November 26), 2024
2Thess. 1:1-10; Lk. 12:13-15,22-31       

“Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?” [Lk. 12:14] ─ replied the Lord, having been asked to divide the inheritance between two brothers.  Then He added: “Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on” [Lk. 12:22], once before that He had said “Let the dead bury their dead” [Lk. 9:60], and on another occasion He suggested that it is better not to have family [Mt. 19:10-11].  It follows that detachment from mundane concerns, liberation of the heart from earthly cares and bonds, is among the key features of the Christian spirit.

Yet at the same time the Lord gives His blessing to marriage and speaks against divorce, reaffirms the commandment for children to love, respect and care after their parents, accepts the power of civil authorities and the validity of existing social order.  This notion, however, does not overturn or contradict the demand to remain free from earthly cares.  Compare one with the other and see that you must conform to the earthly order of things while keeping your heart heaven-bound, aloft above the earth.

How can we attain to this?  There is no ready-made recipe: everyone has to find a solution through his own life.  This is, basically, what practical wisdom is all about.  The Lord gives us just the following simple rule: “seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” [Mt. 6:33]. If we focus our attention on letting the Lord dwell and reign in our souls, then earthly matters will never attract and bind us any longer; then we will be doing our everyday business externally, while our hearts will be busy with something altogether different.  And if, as the result, we feel it necessary to cut off even the external link to earthly cares, we will gain even more: we will then come closer to our heavenly goal which is set for us by the Christian faith.

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