Spiritual Contemplations for those who serve the Lord |
There is no place for liars in the kingdom of heaven as it is written, “But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie” (Revelation 15:22). As people consider the servant to be the representative of heaven on earth, they expect him to be adorned with all heavenly virtues including the virtue of credibility. There is no a single person on earth who had not been hurt, at least once, by lack of others’ credibility. Many had completely lost their trust in others due to their incredibility. Nevertheless, the last person on earth they expect to be incredible is the servant. He is the man of God about Whom it was said, “For He who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23). Therefore, people expect the servant to be faithful like His Master whom he serves. Credibility has many types: (1) Speaking the truth: It is inconvenient for a servant to lie, manipulate, and prevaricate under pretext of wisdom. “This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic” (James 3:15). (2) All the truth: Pope Shenouda wrote an article about “Half-truths” saying, “There is no in half-truths any fairness towards truths. Although they seem credible, yet they do not give a comprehensive concept about truth as it is”. Many servants use half-truths as a way to avoid a certain embarrassing situation. When he is asked about someone or something, he doesn’t reply with the entire truth but with only a part of it. A servant cannot be blamed if he abstains from answering a certain question, but he would be blamed if he gives a half answer that gives a wrong impression to the one who asks that this is all about that matter. People can understand well a servant’s abstinence from answering as a part of keeping confidentiality, yet they do not forgive his incredibility, and they even become offended by it. (3) Keeping promises: St. Paul was so keen to keep his word to the Corinthians realizing that taking things lightly i.e. not keeping his promises would lead him to lose their trust in him. Hence, he wrote to them saying, “Therefore, when I was planning this, did I do it lightly? Or the things I plan, do I plan according to the flesh, that with me there should be Yes, Yes, and No, No? But as God is faithful, our word to you was not Yes and No. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me, Silvanus, and Timothy—was not Yes and No, but in Him was Yes. For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us” (2 Corinthians 1:17-20). Examples of situations in which a servant does not keep his promises are the following: promising to pray for a certain matter, promising to visit a certain child, promising to call a certain person and check on him, promising to intervene in a certain problem…etc. (4) Consistency: Inconsistency is one of the things that make people offended the most by a servant. He, for example, may attend a meeting with his fellow servants and agree with them about certain arrangements and after they start going in the direction they agreed together upon, he suddenly changes all what he said before. This would leave them confused, frustrated, and losing trust in his credibility. (5) Credibility of deeds and avoiding hypocrisy: St. Paul speaks about people departing from faith in latter times saying, “speaking lies in hypocrisy…” (1 Timothy 4:2). This means that hypocrisy is a type of lying. Pretending is also a type of lying. Jesus Christ Himself rebuked the Scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy. Therefore, a hypocrite priest who would pretend to be righteous and holy would lose his credibility not only in the eyes of his people but also in the eyes of his fellow priests and his father the bishop. The most thing that offend people from the part of a priest is finding him doing the totally opposite of what he preaches. (6) Using accurate words with neither exaggeration nor hastening: Pope Shenouda speaks about this saying, “An accurate person is accurate in his words. He weighs every word before uttering it. He evaluates its meaning and convenience for the listeners in advance. The one who talks and then regrets what he said is described to be inaccurate in his speech. Also, the one who is blamed by others for what he says and pretends that he didn’t mean it is an inaccurate person. An accurate person says what he means, and means what he says. Hastening in speaking is among the causes that lead to inaccuracy. We mean by hastening either hastening in giving an opinion, hastening in judging people, or hastening in becoming angry. The one who takes his time, weighs each word before uttering it is the most accurate person. He has a balanced way of thinking that allows him to choose the convenient words, and to calculate the possible reactions to them. He cannot be blamed for a single word he says”. (7) Credibility of teaching: A servant must not pretend to know matters he did not study. He must not hasten to answer a question before being sure of its answer. He must not attribute a quote to a certain saint he is not sure about. Being inaccurate in teaching may lead the servant to lose his credibility in the eyes of people who do not trust him anymore. *Adapted from HGBY monthly Clergical letters - September 2017
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