complacency, self-interest, from which it is hardly possible to be free when appealing to men, are absent.
So help me, Father!
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To be ready to pass for a fool, a deceiver ; to know that in any case one will so pass. To dirty one's hands in order not to be afraid of grasping dirty things. And then to live not for reputation in the world ! It is easy to say all this, but when one has been used to live for reputation, and wishes to give it up, there is nothing to live for except God. It is "a vicious circle." If one lives to God, one will disregard the opinion of men. If one disregard the opinion of men, one will learn to live for God; there is nothing else to live for.
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No living man will ever fulfil the will of God perfectly. But because we see and know the impossibility of complete fulfilment, it does not follow that we should determine beforehand to fulfil it incompletely, partially—(this is a most common, dreadful sin). But we should, on the contrary, incessantly and always strive for its complete fulfilment. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God."
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The desire for good is not God, but
