"Go and teach all nations," Christ commanded the Church.

The Gospel must be preached "to all nations." By whom? — By the Church. That is, by us. The Church is not just the clergy, but all of us.

And preaching — it is the word about God. "How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?" "Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ," writes the apostle Paul.

Often, one encounters the opinion: you don't need to tell anyone anything, you need to preach through your life. The idea is that if you live as a Christian, people will be inspired by your example and come to the Church.

I used to think like that myself, but over time I came to understand the inadequacy, and therefore the falsehood, of this thesis for our time.

It's obvious that a Christian should live a Christian life. God's commandments must be fulfilled not only by the preacher, but by every believer. Fulfilling the commandments is a Christian norm. And — yes, to some extent, a righteous life is a form of preaching.

But Christianity is the religion of the Logos, the religion of the Word. Our God is a preacher. And He gave the Church the commandment: to preach the Gospel with words! Without verbal preaching, there is no Christianity. Christ constantly spoke with people.

Indeed, in the lives of the saints, there were times when ascetics converted people to Christianity simply by their appearance. But can we apply this principle to ourselves?

I think none of us has reached such a level of holiness to convert people to Orthodoxy in that way.

Today, no one cares how their neighbor or colleague lives. People are isolated, concerned only with themselves. We no longer have communal life, where people live as in one big family.

Any cultured person today knows how to be "good." How many stories have there been where dangerous maniacs were caught, and it turned out that at work, in public, they were perfect, wonderful people?

Recently, I worked in a secular office. Everyone there is good and decent. But to understand who is a Christian and who is not — you need to TALK about it. And to interest someone in something, you need to TALK.

Words move people. And they must be spoken. By whom? By us, church people. Until the word of faith is spoken, no one will move.

But so far, it turns out that the constantly mentioned model "preach with your life" turns into an excuse for our laziness and indifference. We do not truly live as Christians, and we say nothing about faith to anyone.

We must live as Christians, yes. But find the time, the opportunity, the tact to speak the word of faith! This is what the Lord expects from us.

Original article: https://radiovera.ru/propoveduj-zhiznju-sergej-komarov.html