GEN1125 One should employ the means that will help one attain the high degree of the pious, who are worthy of this Divine grace.   These [means] are as follows: acting in accordance with the qualities of the ascetics, who shun this world; banishing the love and preference for this world from one’s heart, and replacing it with love of the Creator, may He be exalted; devotion to Him; delighting in Him; feeling (spiritually) lonely in the world and among its inhabitants; and adopting the practices of the prophets and pietists.  And then one should have trust in God, that He will bestow grace upon him – as He bestowed grace upon them – in the World-to-Come.   But one who trusts that God will bestow this upon him without the medium of good deeds is ignorant and foolish, and is Iike those of whom it is said, “They act like Zimri, and expect a reward like that of Pinchas” [Numbers 25:6, 10-14] Sotah 22b.  What distinguishes people of this high degree is that they guide God’s servants to His service, exhibit patient endurance in time of trial and tribulation, and regard everything else as of slight importance, when compared with the fulfillment of the Creator’s commandments.   This you know from the account [which begins] [this verse] and from the stories of Chananyah, Mishael, and Azaryah in the fiery furnace (Daniel 3), Daniel in the lions’ den (ibid. 6) and the ten martyrs.   DUTIES 445-7