How can one know what is pleasing to God? How should one act so as not to be guilty before Him? These questions are not simple and, most importantly, far from idle, for very much in our life depends on the practical answer to them. In the letter to the Ephesians the apostle Paul uses a remarkable verb, translated into Russian as "test." It really does mean "to test, check, find out the truth about something." This verb was used when checking recruits' fitness for military service; in those times there was no medical commission, and they checked the ability to throw a spear and the like. This means the apostle calls us to act as children of light, checking our actions "for fitness," checking whether they will be pleasing before the face of the Almighty.

In the Greek text all these words form one sentence, and this is important. A test must be based on criteria, and therefore the apostle names the main criterion: the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Thus, what is pleasing to God is what can be called the fruits of the action of the Holy Spirit in our life. Chiefly this is all goodness, righteousness, and truth. Perhaps by these closely related words the apostle is trying to convey something that cannot fit into words. Modern language designates this with the rather vague term "good." Precisely what we call good, its growth and therefore the diminishing of evil, becomes for the apostle Paul the criterion of whether our actions and life itself are pleasing to God.

The parable told to us about the unjust judge is a very witty move by Jesus. Is it not a living illustration of human ideas about the mechanism by which God makes decisions? We, small and weak, yell and cry out, and only because of our persistence does something happen. This picture looks so absurd, especially when we are asking something of God, Who is merciful, that one wants to laugh and stop doing it.

Whatever may be going on in our heads, God still will not abandon us and will come to help. He will come, but will He find faith where people are calling Him for help? It can happen that such ideas about God replace what we know about Him from Scripture, what we have been taught.

The words of the apostle Paul may seem strange. Can a person imitate God, the Almighty, All-Knowing One who surpasses every human understanding? God, who created heaven and earth? But in the second verse the apostle Paul explains that he is speaking about another kind of imitation.

Would a son who wants to be like his father copy the color of his eyes, his height, his shoe size - inborn qualities that belong to his father's nature? Of course not: he would try to imitate his character, his way of thinking and acting, the way his father builds his relationships with other people...

So it is with our imitation of God: the apostle calls us to love others as our Heavenly Father loves us. The Lord Jesus, the Son of God, in His earthly self-emptying, says that whoever has seen Him has seen the Father - but not because He imitates His invisibility or boundlessness. The main thing in God is love, and it is precisely in this that we can become like Him as beloved children, as His beloved Son does.