/christian/ - Christian Discussion and Fellowship

Christianity isn't about being happy in this life. Surely you didn't think the cross would be comfortable, did you? But this suffering is a great grace. By suffering in this life, you are uniting yourself to Christ, which is the ultimate goal. Ask God not to lighten your load, but to give you the faith, hope, and charity to carry it with joy.

It's conceivable that even very great saints in Heaven will wish they had put themselves through more intense mortifications in this life. Which is not to say you should start whipping yourself – at least not without the OK of a spiritual director – but rather, think how short and insignificant a human life is when compared to eternal beatitude. We can always do more, by the grace of God.

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Thanks mates

>>695306

>Christianity isn't about being happy in this life.

It is.

The unhappiness comes from our sins. When someone keeps himself from sins, then he the grace of God will rest upon him to give him unspeakable joy. He will be tempted by our spiritual enemies, he will be tortured by the servants of our spiritual enemies, he will be put to jail for his faith, we will be killed. But all this will be in vain because he will be cheered up by the grace of God. At times it may seem to the servant of God that the grace has hidden itself but even this will happen in order to inflame more and more the fire of the love in the soul of the Christian.

>>695136

>ive cursed myself for taking up the cross and trying to follow Christ.

I will pray for you anon and you please pray for me for I am in need…

>Even when i have tried to turn to the world and follow its ways Ive always failed miserably, and its lusts eluded my grasp.

I've read something about this by St. Cyrill of Alexandria where he says that God allows the the devil to arrange the things in this way.

When someone starts thinking about freedom, like the Israelites in Egypt, our enemy, the devil says: "You are idle, you are idle; that is why you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’ Go now and work." (Exodus 5:17) That is, go back to your old ways and work again the sinful deeds. "No straw will be given you, but you must still deliver the same number of bricks." (Ex. 5:18) The "straw" means the delusive pleasures of the sin – even they are not given to those who desire freedom. The "bricks" are the earthly deeds, everyone is tempted to do these according to his bad habits. "But the number of bricks that they made in the past you shall impose on them, you shall by no means reduce it, for they are idle" (Exodus 4:8) When the people don't think about freedom, they do their earthly work every day and they don't care about this. But when someone thinks about freedom, the devil intentionally makes the normal works difficult to achieve. He does so because the sin looks good and attractive only before it is committed, but after the sin, one sees that the sin is a delusion. That's why the devil doesn't allow those who think about freedom to have what the other people easily have. Don't worry that "its lusts eluded my grasp", this means you are good and about to start your own personal Exodus.

>>695136

>How do i overcome this?

Sell all your possessions and take up your cross.

>>695136

You do not overcome it, God does.

When you prey don't ask to win, ask God to win in you.

Don't despair, be vigilant over your thoughts. I'm sure you are familiar with the way you are tricked into lust (maybe start by thinking of girls you know, having a little casual impure thoughts, "I'll just watch a porn but I won't touch myself" and similar things) Be able to recognize the sins and immediately move your attention to prayer.

Find a prayer you really like, or a verse from the psalms or any part of scripture and repeat it when you are suffering from temptation. I like to use "blood of Christ wash me"

You will see that when God helps you can overcome normal tempations. However you can still fall because sometimes you also decide to sin and God can't stop your free will ("it's no big deal, i'll just do it this time, i'm so stressed, i need it").

when the enemy tempts you God can help, when it's your will you must be strong and restrict yourself with discipline.

God bless

>>695857

Of course, there's a certain peace and joy that comes from hope, but it's possible to feel this while in a state of misery, so calling this "happiness" is a bit of a simplification. It is most of all important to realize that this world is exile, and we will not be refreshed until we see God face to face. Anything short of union with God is to be held at a distance, since it falls so far short of our divine purpose.