A Pure Heart and Sincere Faith

Liudmilla · Post by **Liudmilla** » Wed 14 January 2004 1:49 pm

A Pure Heart and Sincere Faith: 1 Timothy 1:1-7, especially vs. 5: "The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere faith." [RSV] Many cities in the United States began as settlements at the confluence of major rivers: Pittsburgh where the Monongehela and the Allegheny join to form the Ohio, St. Louis at the meeting of the Mississippi and the Missouri, or Sacramento where the Feather and the American flow into the Sacramento. Similarly the Apostle points to the City of God from which Divine love flows forth to join "a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere faith" (vs. 5). Having journeyed into the human interior himself, he reveals how we may join the flow of Divine love into the world.
A pure heart commands and controls the soul, banishing evil thoughts that would enter, so that the soul "is not lifted up to vanity" (Ps. 23:4 LXX), but draws close to God, that He may dwell within and aid the Faithful in fully purifying their hearts (Jas. 4:8). St. John of Kronstadt bids each one of us: "notice that God does not tolerate the slightest impurity...and that peace and God Himself leave you immediately after the admittance of any impure thought into your heart. And you become the abode of the Devil if you do not immediately renounce the sin."

The issue is how we attain a pure heart, being long corrupted and still under constant assault by the spirits of evil that war against the soul. St. Philotheos of Sinai teaches that "Once we have in some measure acquired the habit of self-control, and have learnt how to shun visible sins, brought about through the five senses, we will then be able to guard the heart with Jesus, to receive His illumination within it, and by means of the [innermost aspect of the heart] to taste His goodness." The skirmish line of spiritual warfare is within our minds where evil thoughts must be stopped, but we are blessed, for in receiving the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit on our five senses, we have an invincible Ally Who can destroy these enemies, if we will but seek His aid.

The conscience, being an aspect of the heart, must be purified and healed along with the heart. By God's mercy, we were given a guardian angel at Baptism to speak to our conscience and awaken it. As we heed his prompting, we shall be led to examine our thoughts and actions each day. Then, each day we shall grieve before the Lord. Listen carefully to St. John of the Ladder: "Do not be surprised that you fall every day; do not give up, but stand your ground courageously. And assuredly the angel who guards you will honor your patience."

Of particular concern, like a holy alarm sounding at mortal danger, is deadening of our conscience. As St. John says, "We must carefully consider whether our conscience has ceased to accuse us, not as a result of purity, but because it is immersed in evil....Many from long neglect become incurable, but with God all things are possible." Without a good conscience, love cannot follow, neither for God nor for other men. As St. Diadochous of Photiki declares: "No one can either love truly or believe truly unless he has first brought accusation against himself."

Which brings us to sincere faith, the third essential source of Divine love. The entire work of purification of the heart as the precursor of Divine love applies also to faith, which is why St. Paul speaks of faith that is "sincere, unfeigned, without deceit." Hence, St. Herman of Alaska unites faith and love: "A true Christian is made by faith and love toward Christ. Our sins do not in the least hinder our Christianity, according to the word of the Savior Himself, for He deigned to say: 'not the righteous have I come to call, but sinners to salvation; there is more joy in heaven over one who repents than over ninety righteous ones'" (Mt. 9:13; Lk. 15:7).

O Lord, heal my soul, enlighten the eyes of my heart, grant peace to my spiritual powers, that with a faith unashamed I may love and obey Thee to the attainment of Thy Kingdom.

Liudmilla · Post by **Liudmilla** » Wed 14 January 2004 1:50 pm

Begin With Christ: 1 Timothy 1:8-14, especially vs. 12: "I thank Him Who has given me strength for this, Christ Jesus our Lord, because He judged me faithful by appointing me to His service." The transmission of the Faith has continued in the Church from Apostolic times to the present, being directed by the Holy Spirit, so that God's People have the blessing in every generation of "the Faith once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3).
Factors of aging, death, and the need to place pastors and teachers in developing fields of ministry always mean the passing on of the truths of the Faith to new hands. The Pastoral Epistles, the two addressed to Timothy and the letter to Titus, are the earliest records of this process of entrusting the Faith to subsequent leadership. Hence, in First Timothy, the Apostle writes to a young Church leader naming him as "a true son in the Faith" (1 Tim. 1:2).

Observe the point which the Apostle emphasizes for his "true son," the new leader Timothy. Actually, it is a message for all the Faithful through all time, for leaders and followers alike: the strength, the necessary grace and mercy, and the mandatory faith and love for Christian life begin with the Lord Jesus Christ (vss. 12-14). In the reading let us observes St. Paul use his own life as an example of what the Lord Jesus accomplishes when He calls a person to follow Him. The Apostle describes how Christ empowers each Christian for discipleship, and especially those whom He appoints to ministries of leadership in the Church.

St. Paul first recalls the moral law of God as found in the Ten Commandments (vs. 8). Then he reviews the condition of the hearts and souls of the godless for whom the first four Commandments are given: individuals who disdain all relationship with God Himself. He characterizes such people as lawless, insubordinate, denying God, and profane (vs. 9). These people honor idols of their own hands rather than God, worshiping created things and investing their life energy in the things which they set up "in the temples of their hearts:" wealth, pleasure, power, status, or whatever. The claims of law and the directions of superiors are not considered holy or sacred, only what is required to please and satisfy these "gods" after whom they lust.

Next, the Apostle lists a group of sins forbidden by the last six of God's Commandments, the particular ones which God requires of all men in their relationships with others. Observe: as the Apostle names the "sins," he follows the same order in which the six Commandments are listed in Scripture. Clearly he had the Great Commandments in mind as he wrote. Most important, observe that his review of the Law of God establishes a background for his presentation of the sound doctrine of "the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to [his] trust" (vs. 11), the topic which follows thereafter.

In the phrase, "committed to my trust," the Apostle sets the stage for disclosing that it was God's grace that transformed him from a persecutor of the Church into an Apostle. He thanks Christ Jesus Who enabled him to obtain mercy, as the Lord does with all sinners who will turn in repentance to Him. Finally, St. Paul employs the example of his own life as a former "blasphemer, persecutor and insolent man" (vs. 13). Here he refers to his early life in Judaism when he was "breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord" and bringing men and women "bound to Jerusalem" for prosecution, trial, imprisonment and death (Acts 9:1-2).

St. Paul concludes with the reminder that "the grace of our Lord [is] exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus" (vs. 14). There is no sin that God will not forgive if we begin with Christ. Glory to Him Who restores to God's likeness all who repent!

O Lord, help me always to do that which is pleasing to Thee and to sin no more.