The Temptation of Christ. Artist: Ary Scheffer Our life consists of decisions and their implementation. Man is a decision-making being, and he acts or does not act in accordance with his decisions.
Indecision is also a decision, just as inaction is also an action. There are no fruitless decisions and actions. After all, everything has its own result: a barren fig tree has one, and a ripe vine has another.
All decisions and actions—both active and passive, whether we want it or not—have a direct effect on the course of our entire life and our entire personality, in one way or another determining its spiritual, mental and physical state—the essential that it lives by.
There is a choice behind every decision and subsequent action. This choice, with all the external and internal factors influencing it, is fundamentally free, since it is made by our God-given free will.
We are free because God, Who created us in His image and likeness, is free. The freedom of our created will is like the freedom of the uncreated will of the Creator.
Our freedom of choice is preceded by an understanding and comparison of possible options. Our God-given mind is responsible for this.
It is the mind that realizes the situation a person is in, what challenges and problems he faces, what possible answers and solutions exist, what will be better or worse for him, right or wrong, for good or for evil, useful or harmful…
At the same time, the mind is guided by its value coordinate system. In order to be able to prompt the will to make decisions it must develop a certain “scale of meaning” and must be aware of what is good and what is bad.
These inner values and meanings of a personality are not something static, given once and for all and unchangeable. They can change over time. Their development and place in the hierarchy of a person’s worldview are constantly influenced both internally and externally.
Initially, the soul of every human being has an innate yearning for God. Every soul is a Christian by its nature, by its deep longings and potential. Created in the image and likeness of God, it is naturally drawn to its Pre-image.
Then the soul begins to be educated, absorbing from its family and friends, formal and informal mentors, and from its cultural environment the values of good and evil, beautiful and ugly, useful and harmful, praiseworthy and shameful.
With the process of upbringing and education, a personality matures, and its value coordinate system and the character of the soul based on it are formed. It “imprints” personal aspirations and ways of responding to challenges and problems, presenting a unique combination of virtuous and sinful habits. The character of the soul is formed as a result of the repetition of implementations of certain decisions.
Everything in our lives, even life itself, is a matter of choice. Even what is given to us against our will: our body, soul, parents and relatives, time and place of birth, circumstances and events of life beyond our control. We can reject what we do not choose, we can influence its state, turn it in one direction or another, leave it as it is, improve or worsen it.
All the choices and decisions that we make can be divided into two groups.
Firstly, the choices and decisions that we make in our lives in relation to one or another of its components—personalities and events, thoughts and words, deeds and activities, places and things. Such choices and decisions are usually called “worldly”.
Secondly, the choices and decisions that determine our attitudes to our life itself, to its main direction. Such choices and decisions are called “crucial”, or “existential”.
These include the ethical choice between good and evil, the ideological choice between various socio-political doctrines, the choice in terms of worldview, and, finally, the religious choice.
For Christians, the most important choice is that between the Kingdom of God and this world; the most important decision is the decision to follow Christ or the prince of this world. All the other choices depend on this one.
This choice is made by every person on earth. Actually, it is for making this choice and the implementation of this decision that we have been given this temporary earthly life as a threshold to eternal life.
The time of history of this world will not end until all those who are destined to be born and live on earth make their most important choice, make their most important decision, and determine whether they are with or against Christ.
And only after that will the Lord and Judge come in all His power and glory. Otherwise, His Judgment will be unfair. After all, you can’t judge someone who hasn’t decided yet.
This choice, on the one hand, is implemented in each specific moral, worldview and religious choice; on the other hand, it is made throughout our lives, from conception till death. In fact, life is the embodied choice of either the Savior or the enemy of the human race. There is no other alternative. In spiritual life, the law of excluded middle (from logic) is always at work.
Meanwhile, this choice is influenced by both internal and external factors that need to be clearly understood and taken into account in your life.
From within, our will is influenced by the flesh and the spirit. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other (Gal. 5:17).
The flesh drags the will down to material possessions. The spirit or mind calls the will upward, to spiritual communion with God.
The flesh tempts the will with sensual pleasures. The Spirit inspires the will with otherworldly bliss.
The flesh appeals to self-love, pride and vanity. The Spirit appeals to humility, meekness, and gratitude.
Sin, like virtue, is always a choice, a decision, and an action of the soul. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body (1 Cor. 6:18).
The body is just a house and instrument of the soul. The body is not independent, and it has no power over itself. The soul animates, moves, and directs the body wherever it wishes, even up to its destruction.
The body is powerless before the soul: it cannot resist it even when the soul decides to kill it. The soul is able to separate from the body by its own will, thereby killing it, but is unable to separate from itself.
By killing the body, the soul only intensifies its torments, making them hopeless and infinite. This is the main deception of suicide. Demons convince us that with the death of the body, the soul will die too, and that we will finally find peace. In reality, the suffering of the soul after taking your own bodily life only increases. Suicide is not an option. It is a leap into the abyss of everlasting, hopeless suffering.
The flesh is not the body, but the lowest part of the soul, through which the soul is connected to the body, and the body is controlled and guided. The flesh is responsible for bodily sensations, bodily suffering and pleasure. That is why it is so often identified with the body itself.
The flesh is hostile not only to the spirit, but also to the body. Pleasing the flesh causes direct harm not only to the soul, but also to the body. The most illustrative examples of the latter are gluttony, alcoholism and drug addiction.
The Spirit is the highest part of the soul, thanks to which a person is able to enter into contact with the Holy Spirit and receive the grace of God from him. The spirit or mind is the organ of conscience, faith and prayer, spiritual knowledge and contemplation.
The struggle between the flesh and the spirit is that between the lower and the higher in the soul. The will and the mind are between these two “poles” of the soul and choose between them.
The devil and the demons address the flesh, whereas God and the angels address our spirit and conscience.
The prince of this world strives to enchant and entice people with the values of the flesh—pleasures, wealth, power and fame.
God and His servants strive to convert and save people with the values of the spirit—otherworldly purity and beauty, and the fullness of love and the joy of genuine communion.
Demons, through the flesh, allure a person with seductive thoughts and images that distract his mind and will from God. God, through conscience and mind, calls him with the help of good commandments and examples.
Thus, the battle between the flesh and the spirit is intensified by the battle of God and the devil. “God and the devil are fighting there and the battlefield is the heart of man,” as Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote. The heart is the “front line” of free choice.
In addition to the two internal and two external factors trying to influence our choices, there is also a fifth one. These are all our bodily and mental states, and all our life circumstances: sad, joyful and neutral. All of them appeal to our feelings, emotions, and require the reaction of our mind and will; especially the happy and sad ones, as the most powerful in their effect on the human being.
Everything that a person encounters in his life is a test for him. And what seems to be pleasant and easy eventually turns out to be a more difficult test than an unpleasant and uncomfortable life experience. The fact is that in comfortable and favorable circumstances, people tend to relax and lose their vigilance; as opposed to this, in uncomfortable circumstances they are more attentive and focus on decisions and actions.
When faced with various life circumstances—successes and failures, illnesses and healings, sufferings and deaths—humans are free to take all this differently.
Some people just live without thinking much about the meaning of what is happening to them. They rejoice in their achievements and grieve over their failures, trying not to think about the bad and hoping for the best. These are ordinary worldly people.
Others are outraged by their troubles, considering them unfair, and attribute their achievements to their own merits and talents. Their indignation often extends to envy and hatred towards others, as well as to murmuring and blasphemy towards God and open opposition to Him. These are arrogant people and God-haters.
Others accept both success and failure as a cross given by the Lord, thanking and praising Him for everything. For them, both gains and losses are manifestations of God’s saving Providence.
Just as the Lord, having voluntarily ascended upon the Cross and accepted unimaginable torments and death, brought salvation to the human race, so the faithful, following the example of the Crucified One, are called to bear their life crosses voluntarily, ascending upon their “Golgothas” even to the point of death, enduring everything, forgiving everyone, and thanking and praising the Savior for all things.
In this way, we voluntarily and actively participate with Him in the work of our salvation, boldly hoping for the coming universal resurrection and everlasting bliss in His Heavenly Kingdom.
Trials should be distinguished from temptations. Trials come directly from the God of Providence, while temptations come directly from the evil spirits, although they are allowed by God.
Trials are neither saving nor leading to spiritual death in themselves; they are only reasons for the manifestation of human will in relation to what the Lord gives us. The purpose of temptations is spiritual death, although they disguise themselves as something harmless and even good.
Temptations must be rejected and cast aside, just as we instinctively shake off burning sparks from our skin. In no case should they be accepted; we must never agree with them. Accepting temptations leads to committing sins, which means falling away from God and a state of eternal punishment in the hell of godlessness.
Trials must be accepted patiently and with gratitude, showing our faithfulness, humility, meekness and obedience to God, thereby becoming like our Lord and Teacher. Accepting trials and bearing our cross is an earnest of our salvation.
Then said Jesus unto His disciples, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me (Mt. 16:24).
So, in order to make the right decision in the most important choice, we must not be guided by the flesh, but by the spirit, and not listen to satan with his demons, but to God with His angels; and also endure with patience and gratitude everything sent down to us from the Lord. Thus we should be crucified with Christ in order to be resurrected with Him.
