The only right way

You could say that love comes from faith, and you could say that faith comes from love. Both are logical, but it is said: "The greatest of these is love."

Love is called the queen of the virtues. Without it, the other virtues cannot exist. Without love, they simply become vices and passions.

Faith without love becomes fanaticism and ritualism. Hope without love is despair, it is sadness and despondency. Intelligence without love is cunning, but intelligence with love is wisdom. A heart without love is a stone or a block of ice.

Above the law there can only be love, above the truth, there can only be mercy, and above justice, there can only be forgiveness!

Love is above the law, above truth, and above justice, because the foundation of mercy and forgiveness is love, on which these virtues are based. For this reason, justice without love becomes cruelty, mercy becomes condemnation, and humility without love becomes hypocrisy.

Love binds souls together, both in this world and in the next. In the Bible, God commanded us through Jesus Christ to love one another and to do good, but the one who has loved God above all else is already an eternally successful person.

With your unwavering faith and righteous deeds, you will accumulate real wealth, imperishable and eternal, with which, at the hour of death, you will not suffer in agony, but will leave with a smile on your face and a clear belief in entering eternal life as your reward.

There is such a parable.

One infant asks the other, "Do you believe in life after birth?

The believer says, "Of course, there is life after birth, and we are here to become strong and ready for what comes after.

"This is all nonsense. There is no life after birth. Can you imagine what such a life might be like?" asks the unbeliever.

The believer: "Well, I don't know all the details, but there would be more light and joy, and we would eat with our mouths, for example.

"That's ridiculous, we have our own umbilical cord and it feeds us. And no one has ever come back from there. Life simply ends with birth."

Believer: "No, I don't know exactly what our life will be like after we are born, but one way or another we will see our mom and she will take care of us."

"Mommy?" asked the unbeliever. "Do you believe in Mommy? And where is she?"

"She is everywhere, she is all around us. Because of her, we live, and without her we are nothing."

An unbelieving child, "That's nonsense. I haven't seen a mother, so obviously she doesn't exist".

"No, I don't agree. In fact, sometimes, when everything around us is quiet, you can hear her singing or feel her caressing our world. I believe that our real life doesn't begin until we are born!"

And do you?

The primer of life

Every cruelty, every sin, the more serious ones, from theft and murder to waging war, all these are meaningless. These "victories" are not to be boasted about, they are not to be wished for, because even war ends in peace, and the perpetrators will still have to answer for what they have done, both in this world and the next. Strength is not in war, or in proving one's superiority, but strength is in faith, in piety, and pleasing God — in what is true and eternal. Here is the answer to the age-old question: "Who is the strongest?" He who is with God.

It is important to first decide whether you are on the side of good or evil, true power or false power, life or death, the Lord or nothingness. If you are on the side of God, then you must obey His Word, otherwise, you are just like any other unbelieving sinner, it's all about intention and action. Jesus said, "Believe my works." The Bible says, "For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who are righteous."

Therefore, fighting the real enemy — your passions — is your real war. The sacred texts say, "You should reign over sin." This is actually the answer to the question of how to pass through this life with dignity. The answer to the question of how to please your Creator, to Whom there is soon to be a sojourn. Perhaps the reward in this world will not be long in coming.

Before entering eternal life, it is important to sincerely repent of all sins before the Lord, recognizing that the Lord God is one and the same for all and that there is no other God.

At the end of earthly life, man should fill his soul by doing good, not by satisfying earthly wants and needs. The accumulation of wealth in heaven is a worthwhile thing to do in this life.

If you have this kind of baggage in your life, without any heavy sins, then your end in this world will be easy and beautiful with the knowledge that you did your best. It is as if you were about to take the most important exam of your life, and you know for sure that you are 100 % prepared for it.