Becoming a Community of Disciples

Chapter 6: Spiritual Teachings – Virtues and Discipline

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Fulfilling the Lord’s Commands (RBas §150) Q: How can one fulfill the commandments of the Lord with inward disposition and with eagerness? R: 1 We naturally delight in those things which are good and beneficial. 2 If therefore we believe in the things that have been promised, then from the very thing that we hope for there is implanted in our soul the disposition and desire to fulfill everything by which we can attain that which we desire. 3 Therefore if anyone hates and detests iniquity (Ps 119:163) and purifies himself from all sin—for just as through infirmity the body loses delight in food, so through the disease of sin the soul loses desire for the commandments of God— 4 and if one recalls that the commandment of God is eternal life (John 12:50) and that for all who keep it there will be a fulfillment of the promises, 5 then by such means that disposition of soul can arise of which it says: The judgements of the Lord are true and all of them just, they are more desirable than gold and very precious stone, and sweeter than honey and the honeycomb, 6 for indeed your servant keeps them and in keeping them there is great reward (Ps 18:9–11).