As a poor man does not believe that he may in the future become a rich and very distinguished person, so many Christians do not believe that they shall possess a wealth of future blessings, and shall be made to ‘sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus’ (Eph. 2:6). We may well wonder how, without any special merits on our part, we can expect such high honor and glory, such riches.
We are self-loving, covetous, avaricious, and therefore we are unable to understand how such infinite love, such a wise and disinterested Father can exist; it is as though we still cannot believe that ‘God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life’ (Jn. 3:16).
- Saint John of Kronstadt, “My life in Christ”
