Spiritual Watchfulness – Part 1
Main Idea
His Holiness Pope Shenouda III speaks about spiritual awakening, explaining that a person who lives far from God is like someone who is asleep or unaware of his own spiritual condition.
Sin causes a person to lose his spiritual sensitivity, so he no longer pays attention to his life or realizes where he is heading.
His Holiness emphasizes that God’s call to man is to awaken from his spiritual sleep and rise from a state of spiritual death so that Christ may shine upon him.
A person may be extremely active in the affairs of life and yet be spiritually asleep and unaware of himself.
Spiritual Message
One of the main causes of this spiritual sleep is constant busyness; a person may become filled with work, studies, family responsibilities, and entertainment until he has no time to sit with God or think about the salvation of his soul.
Certain emotions and attachments can also take control of the heart and time, occupying the place that should belong to God, so that a person becomes busy with everything except his relationship with God.
His Holiness also points to the influence of the surrounding environment and friends, as the environment may prevent a person from growing spiritually and encourage him to postpone his relationship with God on the assumption that there is still plenty of time.
Therefore, a person needs to awaken to himself, honestly examine his life, recognize what is distracting him from God, and then begin changing whatever separates him from Him.
Educational Lesson
The lecture teaches us that time needs to be organized, and that a person should set aside a specific time for God just as he sets aside time for sleep, work, studies, and the other responsibilities of life.
It is not enough for a person to be busy even with service, because service itself can become an activity that prevents him from personally sitting with God, praying, and meditating on the Holy Bible.
The solution is to reduce unnecessary activities, limit entertainment that consumes time, and give God a genuine portion of the day.
His Holiness presents the example of monks who rise during the quietness of the night to sit with God away from the noise of the world, emphasizing the importance of solitude, quietness, and sitting with God.
Practical Application
A person should set a daily time for prayer and sitting with God, and organize his sleeping schedule so that he can begin his day with Him.
He also needs to reduce conversations, activities, and forms of entertainment that consume long hours of his day without spiritual benefit.
He should also examine his relationships, emotions, and environment, and distance himself from anything that causes him to move backward in his relationship with God.
The central message is that a person should awaken to himself, come out of the cycle of constant busyness, and give God His rightful place in his heart, time, and life.
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