Follow Jesus Christ

Jesus spent a great deal of time teaching the apostles. That teaching included both theory and practice — the apostles listened to Jesus and then went out in pairs through villages and towns, trying to convey to people the meaning of the idea of the Kingdom of God, which had already come into people’s hearts.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit; theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” Some people feel themselves to be “rich in spirit” — self-centered, strong, satisfied with themselves. Such people are often materially well-off as well. They achieve personal goals by their own efforts and do not need help. They can even be fairly religious. Their self-confidence is based on the strong points of their character; they have high self-regard. Is it wrong to have high self-esteem? No, but it can prevent one from seeing real weaknesses of character. Complacency very often means spiritual blindness.

There are self-critical people, on the contrary, who are dissatisfied with themselves and their inner spiritual life. They see their flaws and struggle with them. It is precisely such people, having no peace, who seek the truth, help from above, and continual communion with God, and, according to Jesus’ words, during this process gradually enter the Kingdom of God within themselves. They understand that they do not have sufficient resources to change themselves. Unfortunately, in the process of struggling with oneself a person can come close to despair and self-denial — even to self-hatred.

Jesus’ teaching instills the idea that a person should always be aware of their limited nature and have a desire to grow, which gives them impetus for a spiritual life. In the Sermon on the Mount there is another commandment close in idea to the previous one: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness; they will be filled.” This speaks to the conflict between “who I am” and “who I should be.” A person can look at themselves optimistically and deliberately close their eyes to their weaknesses. Or one can honestly notice their shortcomings and want to correct them.

The problem is that formulas like “poor in spirit” and “those who hunger for righteousness” can turn into cultivating a sense of inferiority, chronic guilt, dependence on external “spiritual approval,” and religious perfectionism. What can be done to avoid low self-esteem and the denial of one’s own worth? The antidote to this error is faith in God’s absolute love, in one’s status as a child of God, in the dignity and worth of one’s person in God’s eyes. It is necessary to find a way to be humble without humiliation, self-flagellation, or fear. That is quite difficult, and a person is unlikely to manage it without God’s help.

How can one see their faults without excessive navel-gazing? How can one hunger for righteousness without fixating on one’s unrighteousness? The correct approach is probably not to focus attention on one’s real or imagined faults, but to seek higher ideals and values. In the process of reflecting on perfection, the thought “I can be better” may arise. One can, for example, inwardly contemplate Jesus Christ. A person sees their unrighteousness not when they condemn themselves, but when they touch a higher truth and feel the difference. The hunger for righteousness is born of a taste for the light, not from hatred of oneself.

Jesus did not give step-by-step instructions on exactly how to become “poor in spirit” or how to learn to “hunger for righteousness” — perhaps these commandments do indeed exceed human capacities. We must understand and arrive at this awareness ourselves, and it is connected with contemplation of the higher, of something more perfect than we are. Jesus encouraged his disciples to tireless effort in searching and development. Stopping in spiritual growth and search often means stagnation or spiritual death. Accepting life from God and desiring to live the fullness of that life is the secret to overcoming all shortcomings on the way to eternity.