St. Peter of Damaskos, in his treatise on The Great Benefit of True Repentance, wrote:
It is always possible to make a new start by means of repentance. ‘You fell,’ it is written, ‘now arise’ (cf. Prov. 24: 16). And if you fall again, then rise again, without despairing at all of your salvation, no matter what happens. So long as you do not surrender yourself willingly to the enemy, your patient endurance, combined with self-reproach, will suffice for your salvation. Nikodimos, St.. The Philokalia (Kindle Locations 20409-20414). Kindle Edition.
With respect to the daily sins of which we are tempted this is true. The big response which many make falling back into an old pattern of sin is to arrogantly throw up the sponge, admit defeat, and wallow. Neither the ancient Christians nor the Bible they read gives credence to such a method of repentance.
We forget that, according to Scripture, Satan is the god of this age (2 Corinthians 4:4) and that sin resides, somehow, in our members. What this means is that we’ve habituated sin so deeply that for all practical purposes, it lives in our minds and bodies! Of course we’re going to mess this whole holiness thing up. We’re going to mess it up badly! To imagine that discipleship would be easy is to miss the impression Jesus was trying to give in Matthew 11:28-30. He meant that discipleship, because it leads to rest for the soul, is easy because the broad path of destruction leads to weeping and gnashing of teeth. Easy didn’t mean instant.
A struggle many bright students often have is to feel or even say how stupid they are when they make a normal mistake. The self-flagellation that occurs, especially out loud, is a clear signal to those around them that, “Such mistakes are beneath me,” when the student knows full well that those in the room make such mistakes often. In other words, it’s performance art with the arrogant message that, “I messed up, but I’m not as dumb as you lot!” I think that our responding to personal sin with self-destructive thoughts, and punishing self-talk is a similarly arrogant. It’s better to simply, rise again without despairing of your salvation, no matter what happens.
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