Our Life Is for God Alone
Our Life Is for God Alone¹
God is the One who granted us life; thus this life has become His. We live for Him and live by Him, and we cannot separate our life from Him. Therefore, how beautiful is the principle that says: “If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.”
In practical application, we say: if we eat, we eat for the sake of the Lord, so that we may gain energy for the body by which we can do what pleases Him. And if we fast, we fast for the sake of the Lord, so that the spirit may grow strong and be in a strong relationship with God. Thus, the energy of the body is for Him, and the strength of the spirit is for Him…
Likewise, for the sake of God we speak or keep silent: for His sake we speak, bearing witness to the truth, to the faith, and to righteousness; proclaiming His commandments to people, comforting others and strengthening them, and uttering words of wisdom that are beneficial for edification. And for the sake of God we keep silent, acting according to the saying of the wise man: “In the multitude of words sin is not lacking.” Thus, we speak when God opens our mouths, and we keep silent when we fear error in speech.
Every work we do, we do it for the sake of God… we do it for Him in obedience, and we do it by His grace and the power that He grants us. Thus, none of our works is independent of God… and so we live by the Lord, not for ourselves nor for wrong purposes, as happens with some.
There are people who live only for themselves and in a wrong way: all that one of them wants is to build himself up and surround himself with pleasure and luxury, and perhaps for that reason he removes others from his path so that he alone may remain. In all this, the one who lives only for himself is a selfish person. Truly the proverb has said: “He who lives only for himself has never truly lived.” The self should be placed last on the list when priorities are arranged, so we say that God comes first, then others, and lastly the self.
However, this order is not sound if it involves separation from God. Working for others and working for oneself should both be within living for God, not apart from Him. Thus God becomes all in all.
Someone may say: I live for my children; for their sake he works, toils, and suffers, and for their sake he amasses money to leave them an inheritance. Caring for children is a sacred duty, but the error is for a person to focus on his children and neglect his duties toward others and toward God—that is, to neglect God’s share in his money and the share of the poor as well. The duty, therefore, is that while you care for your children, you also care for the rest of the people. And just as you love your children and give them from your labor and toil, you also love the poor and the needy and give them from your labor and toil, and you love the whole society, serving it and giving for its sake, so that your love for all is within your love for God.
Thus, all love should be for God, and all labor should be for God. Love for children and love for all people should be within your love for God. And your first love for your children should be to make them know God and love Him.
Do not make a rival to God in your love, whether the rival is a person or a thing. Thus, you love God with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your will, and then you love all people within your love for God—meaning that your love for any of them does not conflict with any of God’s commandments.
We live for the Lord because He created us. We had no existence, and He brought us into being. He granted us this existence, so we became His, and we live our present life with Him as a pledge of eternal life. We live for the Lord here in order to deserve to live with Him in heaven.
He who lives for the Lord shows this in many virtues that he lives by, or by which his life is distinguished. He entrusts his life to God and lives a life of obedience to Him; consequently, he lives a life of virtue and purity and carries out God’s commandments out of love, not compulsion. He does not care for material lusts and passing desires. Truly one of the fathers said: “The best of people is the one who does not care in whose hand the world is.” Therefore, the one who lives for God does not worry or become troubled over many things, being certain that the true need is for One only—God. The righteous have chosen this good portion.
He who lives for God does not fear death, but says, “for God we die,” meaning that we die in order to meet God in the other life, returning to Him from the alienation of this world so that we may live with Him and with His angels in His heavenly kingdom. The phrase “we die to the Lord” may also be said by the martyrs and by those who offer their lives for His sake in any way. Therefore, it is fitting for you to contemplate heaven, the other life, the fellowship of angels, and the fellowship of the righteous and the saints; then you will feel that death is merely a golden bridge connecting earth and heaven, and the temporal life with eternal life.
Also, among what helps you live with God is to walk in various virtues through which you feel that you are with God, and that God is with you, that you are living in His way and carrying out His will on earth. How easy it is to train yourself in this, even one virtue at a time… Trust that whenever you live a life of virtue, you will be able to say with confidence, “With the Lord we live.” It also helps you in this regard to contemplate the beautiful attributes of God… to contemplate the compassionate and tender God, the helping, rescuing, providing, giving God, the God who is able to do all things, present everywhere, watching all that we do and hearing all that we say… and other divine attributes beloved to the soul. Then you will feel that you are living with this God whom you love and love all His attributes. What also helps you to live with God is to increase your connection with Him through your prayers—not only the memorized prayers that everyone prays, but especially the personal prayers in which you converse with God with an open heart and an honest tongue, making Him participate with you in every work you do, inspiring you in every word you say, and having a will that agrees with God’s will in your life and in the lives of others.
And in order to live with God, you should let God fill your heart and your mind, guide your steps and your desires, and, as much as possible, occupy a good portion of your time. For the one whose time is occupied with many trivial matters, and perhaps with matters that greatly distance him from God, cannot feel that he is living with God.
Therefore, I love that you train yourself to live with God even for one day, which then progresses to two days, then to a week. If you master this, you will be able to make your entire life with God. May God be with you, strengthening you and helping you.
An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, published in Al-Ahram newspaper on 21-9-2008.
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