Seriousness in the Spiritual Life
I would like to speak to you today about seriousness in the spiritual life:
What is this seriousness? What are its signs? And what are its results for the spiritual person, and for those who lose it…
Seriousness in the Spiritual Life
A person who proceeds seriously in any work and in any project can succeed more than one who takes the matter lightly. Because seriousness gives him warmth and perseverance, and drives him to perfect the work.
Thus, those who walk with seriousness place perfection and idealism before them.
A person who walks seriously in his spiritual life places before him the verse that says, “Be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect,” and also, “Be holy, just as your Father in heaven is holy.” And he strives toward this perfection with all his strength, and struggles to obtain the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
Thus, the person who walks seriously advances every day by one step.
He is in constant growth, because he is walking on the way of the Lord with all his strength, with all that God has given him of grace and abilities. Every day he increases in knowledge of the Lord, and increases in attachment to Him, and every day he increases in depth, acquires new virtues, and draws closer to God…
Thus lived the saints, in seriousness and continuous growth:
Take, for example, the saints of repentance, who were serious in their repentance. It was not only that they did not return to sin again, but, even more, they grew in grace until they reached purity and holiness, and sought perfection, and became leaders in spiritual matters. Augustine became a fountain of spiritual meditations, Moses the Black became one of the fathers and guides of monasticism, and Mary the Coptic became one of the Desert Fathers’ wanderers, and blessed Saint Zosima…
These serious people placed before them the saying of Saint Paul the Apostle, “Run in such a way that you may obtain it.” And thus they walked quickly on the way of the Lord.
Thus we find that the saints—in their seriousness—arrived quickly…
Look at Saint Theodore, the disciple of Anba Pachomius, or Saint John the Short. Each of them became a guide for many while he was still a young man, early in monasticism. And he surpassed the elders of his days.
Saint Anba Shenouda entered into holiness while he was a child of nine years, and he would raise his hands and his fingers would shine as though they were candles. Thus the holiness of Saint Mark the Ascetic also appeared in his childhood, as well as that of Saint Tekle Haimanot, Maximus, and Domadius, because they took the spiritual life seriously and entered into its depth while they were young. Saint Misael the Anchorite reached the degree of being a desert wanderer at the age of seventeen. And Saint John the Baptist prepared the way for the Lord—in his seriousness—at about the year…
The serious person knows neither laxity nor sleep..
He does not sleep relying on the work of grace, or relying on divine help, because it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does the work of the Lord deceitfully.” The serious person never knows the meaning of negligence, because negligence does not agree with seriousness. Rather, the serious person exhausts himself to the utmost of his ability, and as the Apostle said, each one will receive his reward according to his labor. Thus the Lord said to the angel of the church of Ephesus, “I know your works, your labor, your patience,” “and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary” (Rev. 2).
The life of seriousness brought the saints into a life of spiritual struggle…
This is the struggle requested by Scripture, rebuking us with the words, “You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin” (Heb. 12:4). Thus, the serious person, in his spiritual work, is “faithful until death.” He enters the spiritual life with all his strength, with all his abilities.
And the serious person never compromises in the spiritual life, nor does he seek middle solutions, nor does he seek justifications…
He never negotiates with sin. He does not compromise with it, but acts with all firmness. As Joseph the Righteous did when he said, “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” And with all strength and firmness he resisted sin, fled from its place, and endured whatever he endured.
Thus we find that the one who walks seriously never hesitates.
Rather, the person who hesitates is the one who has not yet become established, who has not made his final, decisive decision. But the person who is serious in his spiritual life has his goal firmly before him. He has focused all his attention on this goal, with a will that does not negotiate but executes.
Take as an example Abraham, the father of the fathers, when the Lord commanded him to offer his only son as a burnt offering.
How he rose very early in the morning, with determination, before Sarah awoke, and took his son with the wood and the knife. And with determination he built the altar, bound his son upon the wood, and raised the knife to slay him, without hesitation…
In the same way Abraham acted when the Lord commanded him to leave his family and his kindred, and go to the mountain that He would show him. He obeyed without hesitation, and went out, not knowing where he was going…
The person who is serious in his spiritual life does not limp between two opinions…
The Prophet Elijah rebuked the people of his time, saying to them, “How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” Therefore, the serious believer does not give one hour to his Lord and one hour to his heart, because his heart is with his Lord, and his Lord is in his heart. He does not serve two masters, nor does he serve two.
He is not a person who goes down and rises, dives and floats, being in a different state all the time. No, rather, he knows his goal completely and walks in it seriously. He loves the Lord with all his heart, with all his mind, and with all his strength, and there is no competitor to the Lord within him.
The life of seriousness trained him in a firm, decisive, quick solution…
He does not think in a fluid manner, nor does he move in an elusive manner. Rather, he is steadfast and firmly established, as the Apostle said, “Be steadfast, immovable.” When he decided to live with God, he loved God with all his heart and rejected the world with all his heart. He no longer weighed the two matters. He had passed beyond the stage of preference and entered into the steadfastness of determination that says, “Friendship with the world is enmity with God,” “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” Here is firm decisiveness, and no negotiation with evil…
Therefore, the serious believer’s heart is wholly for the Lord…
He has no personal desire, and no pleasure other than the Lord. He has no will of his own other than the will of the Lord. Rather, with all his heart he says, “I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ.”
And the serious believer is not satisfied by formalities or outward appearances…
His seriousness made him cast his nets into the deep, and no formalities in worship can give rest to his conscience.
He is not satisfied with words that he says in prayer without contemplation, without understanding, without reverence, without faith…
And he cannot say in this regard, “I have prayed.” These formalities do not agree with his seriousness.
And he does not deceive himself and say, “I read a chapter in the Bible,” if his reading was without concentration, without understanding, and without practical application in his life…
The person who is serious in his spiritual life is far from setbacks,
His continuous progress does not give an opportunity to go backward. One of the saints says, “I do not remember that the demons deceived me into one sin twice.”
Perhaps he fell into sin through ignorance, through a deception from the devil. But after he has known his deception, he does not allow him to cause him to fall again. It is seriousness in repentance…
There is no doubt that Lot’s wife was not serious about leaving Sodom; therefore, she looked back and perished.
But the serious person, once he has put his hand to the plow, does not look back again, nor does he long for sin…
On this basis, we say that the people of Israel did not walk in repentance seriously when they came out of the land of Egypt.
Therefore, we see them longing for what was in Egypt of fish and meat and garlic and leeks. Like Lot’s wife, he looked back…
The person who is not serious in his spiritual life is exposed to setbacks.
He may begin with the spirit and finish with the flesh, because he did not walk seriously. Thus he leaves his first love and becomes exposed to losing his crown.
Samson was not at the level of seriousness with God during his relationship with Delilah; therefore, he was exposed to a dangerous setback and fell.
But Jephthah, who was serious about his vow, never fell, although the trial he was exposed to was beyond his capacity.
This reminds us of many who are not serious about their vows.
He may appear serious when he makes a vow. And when God gives him what he wants, he begins to think again: Can the vow be replaced with another?
Can the fulfillment be postponed? Can it be paid in installments? And some may not fulfill it at all, and lose their seriousness in their vow.
Rather, many times we lose this seriousness in many promises we make to God.
How many promises have we made to God and not fulfilled! How many commitments do we have that we have not respected or kept!
Rather, how many responsibilities have we formally undertaken before God, and have not fulfilled their duties because of our failure to walk seriously in the spiritual life.
Where are our commitments on the day when we renounced Satan in baptism, and renounced all his tricks, all his hosts, and all his thoughts?! Then we returned…
Where are our commitments every time we confess and partake?!
Because of the lack of seriousness, a person often regrets walking on the way of God, or complains or becomes distressed..
When he walks on the spiritual path and feels the weight of the cross on his shoulder, or feels tired from the difficult road and the narrow gate,
or when a trial comes upon him from the devil who envies his spiritual life… then he may regret, envy the wicked, or sin.
As Peter was afraid and lost the seriousness of his particular promise: “Even if everyone denies You, I will not deny You,” “Even if it means that I die with You.”
Seriousness in the spiritual life also does not accept postponement…
As the prodigal son said, “I will arise now and go to my father.” And indeed, he arose immediately and went to his father.
But King Agrippa, who said to the Apostle Paul, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian,”
there is no doubt that he was not serious when he said to the Apostle, “Go now, and when I have a convenient time I will call for you.” His postponement indicated his lack of seriousness…
And thus every postponement, whether in repentance, or in responding to the work of grace, or in accepting service, or in undertaking any spiritual work..
An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III — Al-Keraza Magazine — Ninth Year (Issue 28), 14-7-1978.
For better translation support, please contact the center.
