Elder Porfyrios
“There
is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do
with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love” (A
John, 4, 18)
When you love Jesus, despite your many weaknesses and your awareness
of them, you rest assured that you have overcome death because you are
in communion with Jesus’ love.
We ought to feel that Jesus is our friend. He is our friend. He
confirms it Himself when He says: ‘You are my friends…” (John 15, 14).We
ought to look up to Him and approach Him as our friend. If we fall, if
we commit an offence, we ought to approach Him with love and courage and
be filled with trust bestowed to us by our mutual friendship without
fearing His punishment. We ought to tell Him: ‘Yes, Lord I have done
this, I have fallen, forgive me”. At the same time we ought to feel that
He loves us, that He receives us with tenderness and love and that He
forgives us. Let our trespasses not separate us from Jesus. If we
believe that He loves us and that we love Him, we will not feel
strangers, neither we will feel separated from Him, not even when we
commit a sin. We have secured His love and no matter what we do, we know
that He loves us.
