A very important word in Eastern Christian spirituality is the word synergy. Eastern Christian theologians use this New Testament Greek word synergy to express the biblical teaching that God does not force His grace upon us, but, rather, guides and strengthens us after we submit to His will. Synergy is derived from the word synergoi, fellow workers with God, used by Paul in First Corinthians (3:9). It comes from two Greek words: syn, meaning with; and ergon, meaning work. We cooperate. God works with us. We work with Him.

St. Isaac the Syrian said: For the Christian no thought, no feeling, no action can come from the Gospel without the help of God’s grace. Man, for his part, brings the desire but God gives the grace, and it is from this mutual activity, or synergy, that Christian personality is born.

It is critical for us to understand that God wants free-will partners. This is precisely why He created us with free will. He created us to be His children, His sons and daughters, not His servants or blind slaves. The only way that love can be truly real is if it is freely given.

Once we come to know God, however, we do become His servants, but we do it willingly, out of love. St. Macarius of Egypt says that the will of man is an essential condition, for without it God does nothing. St. James says (4:8): Draw near unto God and He will draw near unto you. What James means when he says draw near to God, is obedience. Faith begins with obedience, that is freely given. We must   understand, however, that God’s will is that we will freely return His love because we learn how much He loves us. How can we refuse to freely return love when we experience it?

The problem is that we sometimes think that God’s love is only expressed when He rescues us from challenges and problems. God is not an enabler. He calls us to be adult children, that is people who rely on His support but do not expect Him to rescue us from life. If He rescued us, we would never learn to trust in Him.