Whoever Loves His Life Will Perish It
Main idea
The lecture discusses the verse “Whoever loves his life will lose it” and explains that self-love is not inherently wrong, but the ways a person pursues self-fulfillment can be destructive if done through pleasures, pride, uncontrolled freedom, or self-admiration.
Forms of wrong self-love
- Sensual love: gratifying the self with sensory pleasures leads to lust and sin and prevents labor for God.
- Imaginative love: delighting in dreams and fantasy instead of real work can cause a person to be lost in himself.
- Love of greatness: seeking worldly greatness, as Lucifer, Adam, and the builders of Babel did, leads to fall.
- Wrong freedom: external freedom without inner liberation strips the person and brings him to ruin.
- Idolizing the self and self-feeling: narcissism and praising the self make a person unable to admit his fault and lead to error and heresies.
Spiritual dimension from a Coptic Orthodox faith perspective
True self-realization is internal and spiritual: purity of heart, the fruits of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, humility, meekness) and the relationship with God. The right path is self-denial and the cross: “Crucify your self so your self may live in God.”
Practical appeal
A precious question: What have you built in your self? Gather living stones of the soul: purity of thought, purity of sense, purity of heart. Build your self from within not from external show, and preserve the soul for eternal life by taking the road of humility and service.
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