“Why do you think that the upright person who loves the true and loves the good is ready to accept faith in God? Because uprightness, truth and goodness are flashes of the Lord Jesus Christ who is truth, goodness and life. These are lights from Him, sown in the nature of man who, if he walks in them, is drawn close to God. When the Lord God wants to reveal Himself to him, then he (that is, this person who is upright in his path, a man of truth and goodness) sees that faith is something very normal and natural and he wants to believe but he cannot because of human weakness. It is impossible for someone to believe in God by his own powers…So the condition for us to be ready to accept faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is for us to be upright in our life. Blessed is the one who bears witness to the truth even at his own expense, for there is no doubt that for God he is a chosen vessel and a blessed man. But why are there not many believers, to the degree that the Lord says, “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith upon the earth?” The reason for this is that most people have come to walk in twistedness and without uprightness. They do not love the truth, but rather love their own interests. The truth, today, is equivalent to people’s interests. Very, very few people today bear witness to the truth because people look out for their own. Their basic concern is acquisition and avoiding harm. For this reason, it is very hard for them to believe and to accept God’s grace. Therefore God’s grace is not given to them because God knows the hidden things of their hearts, for He puts His grace is damaged vessels! This is a fundamental aspect of the issue of faith. He is very near to us, but at the same time He is very far from us! Uprightness is needed.”
 
– Homilies from ‘Arab Orthodoxy’