The Philokalia

by Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain

Judging by outward appearances, he who obeys the will of God does the better thing, for he obeys the supranatural command of the Lord of nature, which he regards as wiser and more righteous than natural knowledge; whereas he who disobeys does a lesser thing, in that he regards his own opinion about what is right as more righteous than the word of God. But if we look deeper, things turn out to be different. What matters is the motive behind the obedience or disobedience; and so he whose motive is to do God's will has chosen the better path. In the present case, to all appearances God seems to be angry with the man who is disobedient and to bless the man who is obedient. But in reality it is not so, as has been said already: from the viewpoint of natural contemplation both were equally good, since the motive of both was to do God's