In the last issue of this article, I began sharing some of the thoughts of Theophan about turning our hearts to God. Theophan suggests that “whoever enters this true way of pleasing God” will most probably experience some struggle, “threatened by the danger of losing her way at the crossroads, of going astray and perishing while under the illusion that she is working out her salvation”. Theophan states that such crossroads are unavoidable because we are human and part of the purpose of this human life is to learn how to control our inclinations and live with thoughts about the teachings God has given us through the Person of Jesus. It is the primary task of life’s journey to learn how to become spiritual people and to respond to the challenges of life in a manner similar to Jesus.

Theophan relates that “the spiritual traveler who already has the desire to   follow the way of the Lord” must also become cognizant of the struggle with which she will be confronted. We humans don’t like to change. We can find a million reasons why we don’t need to change and present more than a million reasons why we cannot live like Jesus lived. If we want to follow Jesus we must be aware of the internal struggle we will face if we attempt to extend unconditional love and forgiveness to others. Our natural tendency is to put conditions on our love and forgiveness, not realizing that when we do this we only diminish ourselves spiritually and fail to learn the lessons that life is intended to teach us.

Theophan maintains that this struggle which must be encountered on the way to salvation, is “common for everyone” and requires “special guiding principles,” that is principles what can truly turn a person towards God and bring him/her into God’s presence. During the next few weeks I will share the principles that Theophan has identified.