Be Transfigured - Live a New Life in Christ

[Иван Ивковић]

Suffering is Real

 

Everyone tries, but we all know you can’t eliminate suffering. It is a real part of life that we have all experienced. Every person suffers, and when we take a moment to accept our own suffering rather than trying to escape from life, we grow closer to God and each other. When we are able to appreciate our suffering, we may even become more merciful and patient with others. When Christ invites us to “deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him,” (Mark 8.34) He isn’t without experience. He suffered as one of us so He knows our struggle, and He knows how we can only grow closer to Him when we stop focusing on ourselves and start to see that others are suffering around us also. Half-way through Great Lent the Church reminds us of our destination; the Cross of Christ. Great Lent is our blessed opportunity to embrace our suffering through prayer and fasting, so that we can finally learn that life isn’t about us. It is about God.

 

[Иван Ивковић]

You Can’t Climb to Heaven until You Renounce the World

On the fourth Sunday of Great Lent, the Church commemorates the memory of Saint John, the author of the Ladder of Divine Ascent. In his now famous treatise, Saint John helps us to see that the only we can climb to heaven is to renounce the world. It is not possible for us to climb to heaven while we cling to our worldly possessions and desires.

 

 

[Иван Ивковић]

Playing with Demons

When we are faced with temptations and struggles that seem to overwhelm us, we can find comfort knowing that demons have no power over us without God’s permission. There is once exception when we give them permission through our love for sinful living or such boldness as playing with demons.