It's
what God gives us that is important in attaining perfection – Not what
we give Him. He gives us mercy. He gives us forgiveness. He gives us His
love. At the moment of our Baptism we are pure. At the moment of
absolution in our Confession we are pure, at the moment we receive Him
into our body in Holy Communion we are pure. Not as the result of our
efforts but as His gift of mercy and love. We then continue to struggle
against the evil forces of the world and can be tempted to forget and
fall into error anytime. God is still there with mercy, forgiveness and
Love. Out of our love for Him we are sorry for our forgetfulness and
error and seek His forgiveness and mercy which He freely gives back. We
struggle to improve so we will not be as forgetful. We fast to help us
remember Him and to increase our control over the passions of the Body.
We pray and learn to have the Jesus Prayer on our lips when we are
tempted or face difficulty. We work to improve ourselves to be a good
servant of our Lord. We do not do this for merit but out of our love of
Him, our desire to do what He wills recognizing our weaknesses when
facing the spirutual war we are engaged in. This is an ongoing process
of growth. It is what we call the Orthodox way of life. It is a life of
repentance.
The nature of the difficulties we face are highlighted in St. Paul's Letter to the Ephesians 6:10-17
"Brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand, therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the equipment of the gospel of peace; besides all these, taking the shield of faith, with which you can quench all the flaming darts of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."
What
many Protestants see as working for merits are the things Orthodox
Christians have done since the time of he Apostles to be good sons, to
hallow His name, to live a more virtuous life according to His
commandments. We need His grace to do so and we also need to put all our
own energies into following what God desires for us. It is living this
kind of humble life in eyes of God that we become justified so that at
the time of the final judgement when the actions of our life will be
examined in detail and truth we will be accepted into His Kingdom.
Without these "works", without our own efforts, we will not improve our
ability to serve our Lord as his son or to glorify Him as He intended.
It's wrong to think of these efforts as earning merits. Orthodox
Christians do not have this idea of merits tied to our personal efforts
because we have a sacramental life as the foundation of out faith. We
have much more than a book to guide us. We know God will help us and we
know that we are weak needing his help. We also know we have free will
and a body full of passions, that we live in a world controlled by evil
forces that we must struggle against. We continually "Lord have mercy on
me." we continually seek His grace and participate in His sacraments
where we are give the gifts of His healing and grace. It is a complete
way of Life in Christ.
