Not that Strong

One day old Paisios was visited in is remote hermitage by a group of five obnoxious young men, full of pride and arrogance. He patiently spent several hours showing them attention. A theology teacher who was present became irritable and impatient. "How could you tolerate them?" he asked him, And the elder replied, "Have you ever wondered how God could tolerate you?"--From the book, "The Mountain of Silence"

 

There is a way of wisdom that comes to those who follow closely to Jesus. It is not something one can learn in a few days, months, or years. This is why we are fools to not study the lives of the saints. They did not become saints by simply believing. They became saints by spending hours in prayer, in service, in silence, in study, in close proximity to Jesus. They learned to trust through what they suffered. They learned to die to themselves through mountains of disappointment and uncertainty. They learned to fight the good fight in humility through being let down by others over and over again. And when we study a saints life, we find this person had also studied the life of a saint that came before them. We cannot be loners in this journey, we will be tricked by the devil if we try. We are not that strong.

 

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