Discover Top Posts Tagged with #keep god's commandments

“If we do not 'become the Scriptures,' then reading them will have been in vain.

Christ says the same thing in a different manner:

‘If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.’ (John 15:10)

In this saying, Christ reveals that the keeping of His commandments is a means of communion. It is not a legal or moral matter. Rather, keeping His commandments is a means of embodying Christ Himself. This is theosis in its most immediate form.

Understanding the commandments and the discipline of putting them into practice is a matter of communion.”

~Fr. Stephen Freeman, From The Ascetic Imperative - A Matter of Communion

(Image: Icon of Christ the True Vine - late 20th century - Dormition Convent, Parnes, Greece, based on an early 15th century by Angelos Akotantos at Malles, Hierapetra)

#Orthodox Christian #theosis #obedience to Christ #keep God's commandments #love one another #love God #Scriptures #abide in God's love #Icons #christ the true vine #Fr. Stephen Freeman #embody Christ #communion

“ ‘Hail, you who are highly favored, the Lord is with you’ (Lk. 1:28)! Thus does the holy Church invoke the most holy Virgin, the Mother of God. But the Lord is also with every pious soul that believes in Him. The Lord’s abiding with the Virgin Mary before she conceived the Savior is not a particularity proper to the most pure Virgin alone. The Lord is with every believing soul: ‘ The Lord is with you.’ These words may be said to everyone who keeps the Lord’s commandments.”

~St. John of Kronstadt

(Artist unknown)

#St. John of Kronstadt #Virgin Mary #Madonna and Christ Child #Theotokos #Panagia #Scriptures #Hail Mary #The Lord is with every believing soul #keep God's commandments #Jesus Christ #Christian art

Obedience is Worship

“We are actually worshiping God when we are obedient to Him and show our love to Him by doing what is well pleasing to Him which is defined by His Law. One cannot keep the Law in order to be JUSTIFIED; the Bible certainly makes that clear to us. As followers of Christ, having BEEN JUSTIFIED, we now seek to please God and we do so by endeavoring to follow His perfect Law which He has laid out for us and empowers us to obey through the Holy Spirit and our new nature. Once we are justified that doesn't mean the work of grace is over. Salvation is a package deal which, after having been justified, the Holy Spirit begins the work of sanctification, which, in turn, deals with holiness and following after the commands of God in and throughout our lives.”

~Philip Stallings

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments." - John 14:15

#worship #obedience #justification and sanctification #grace #Christian #Scriptures #keep God's commandments