Service and Spiritual Lukewarmness
Service and Spiritual Lukewarmness
Question
If my spiritual life becomes lukewarm, should I leave the service or continue?
Answer
We cannot allow the service of one of the Church Education classes to fluctuate because of a state of lukewarmness that may affect the servant from time to time. However, since lukewarmness does not give spirituality to the service, the rule is:
If you are in a state of lukewarmness, do not leave the service; rather, leave the lukewarmness.
It is well known that there may not be anyone who remains in constant fervor, and everyone may be exposed to lukewarmness. Therefore, the system that exists in many branches is very beneficial: having two servants together in one class, each helping the other.
We offer some advice to the servant during a period of lukewarmness:
1- If the servant becomes lukewarm, let his soul be contrite before God, let his prayers increase, and let them be from the depths…
Let his soul be broken in the feeling of unworthiness and in rebuking itself for its lukewarmness. Let him lift up his heart to God, saying: “I have nothing, O Lord, to give them, so You give me what You desire to offer them… Not for my sake, O Lord, but for theirs, save me from this lukewarmness, even if only during the hour when I teach them… so that my teaching may not be a waste of their time or a stumbling block to them…”.
2- Let the servant also try to make the lesson itself a remedy for his lukewarmness.
For the lesson in Church Education is not only for the students, but also for the servant. Let the servant strive for the sake of his children. Let him keep before him that beautiful verse: “And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth” (John 17:19).
Let him rebuke himself, saying: What fault do these little ones have that their teacher is in a state of lukewarmness as I am now?
3- In this way, let him lead himself to repentance.
He should not allow the state of lukewarmness to remain with him for a long time. Rather, let him search for its causes and work on treating himself from them. If the reason is negligence in the means of grace, let him return to them diligently… If the reason is a crouching sin that has corrupted his spiritual life, let him repent of it.
4- Let him know that lukewarmness is dangerous for him, whether he is serving or not serving.
Leaving the service is not a remedy for him or for the service. Therefore, he must treat the lukewarmness in his life first for his own sake. Let him know that the Lord Christ taught us to bear witness to Him in Jerusalem before Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Jerusalem here symbolizes the condition of the heart within.
5- Let him know that many who left the service because of their lukewarmness were lost.
For the service itself is one of the means of grace. It gives them the opportunity to read the Scriptures and meditate on them, and to be in a spiritual environment that has its influence. Remaining in the service also helps in the conviction of the soul and its return to God. Perhaps the service is the thread that connects him to God during his state of lukewarmness. If he loses it, he may lose the spiritual motivation to repent.
6- Some servants have experienced, during their periods of lukewarmness, the benefit of the children’s prayers for them.
In humility, he may say to his children: “My children, I need your prayers. Please pray for me throughout this week”.
The prayers of children have a wonderful effect, especially when genuine feelings of love connect them with their teacher.
At the same time, he should join the children in praying for himself. He should not leave any practical obstacle in his life that would hinder the answer to prayer.
Even if the children do not pray for him, because of his humility and his request for their prayers, God may lift this lukewarmness from him.
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