Seriousness in the Spiritual Life
Seriousness in the Spiritual Life
The importance of seriousness
The difference between the saints and ordinary people is that they walked in their spiritual life in a serious manner, in everything.
In reality seriousness is necessary in every work a person does, even in ordinary secular life matters, and in all kinds of responsibilities… in every job and profession, even in the various sports arts.
Seriousness in work leads to mastering it, and to success in it.
Indeed it leads to growth and progress step by step in this success and in that mastery, until the person reaches what enables him to degrees of perfection, placing before him the Lord’s saying:
“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matt. 5:48). And at least he reaches the attainable ideal, and the exemplary model.
What are the limits of the required seriousness? The Lord says about this:
“Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life” (Rev. 2:10).
That is, a person should work with all his heart, all his will, all his capabilities, and all that the Lord gives him of help and grace, and he should not be lenient with any shortcoming no matter how small. He should remember constantly the word of divine revelation:
“Cursed be he that doeth the work of the LORD deceitfully” (Jer. 48:10).
This very verse kindles zeal and vigor in him, so he increases in depth in his seriousness and perseverance. He never accepts half measures, but strives earnestly toward perfection. He is not satisfied with a certain stage, but looks forward to the remaining stages, to complete his struggle.
For example: the Apostle Paul:
This one who labored more than all the apostles (1 Cor. 15:10). He spoke in tongues more than all (1 Cor. 14:18). He was in prisons more frequently, in scourges more plentifully, in deaths often… in dangers of rivers, in dangers of robbers, in dangers in the city, in dangers in the wilderness, in dangers in the sea… besides the care for all the churches (2 Cor. 11:23–28). Paul, to whom the Lord appeared more than once and called and strengthened him… this Paul in all his spiritual greatness says:
“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark…” (Phil. 3:13–14).
To this extent did seriousness reach in this great saint.
From his experience he says: “Run, that ye may obtain” (1 Cor. 9:24).
Slow or ordinary walking does not agree with seriousness, nor does it lead to the kingdom. The serious person ought to run that he may reach the high degrees required of him. Thus Saint Paul says about himself: “I therefore so run…” (1 Cor. 9:26).
By this seriousness, and running in the way, the saints reached quickly.
In monasticism
• Saint TADROS, disciple of Anba Pachomius, and Saint JOHN THE SHORT were able each to become spiritual guides while still young.
• Saint ANBA MISAIL joined the monastic life at a young age. But he walked seriously, which made him a hermit about the age of seventeen.
• Saint ANBA SHENOUDA, leader of the solitaries, began his spiritual struggle at nine years old. He prayed and his fingers were like shining candles.
• The two princely saints MAXIMUS and DOMNADIUS began monasticism in youth, one of them not yet having grown a beard. But they walked seriously, so that their prayer came from each mouth like a radiant beam…
• The same seriousness we say of Saint MARK the hermit, who walked in ascetic life from childhood, and of Saint TECLA HAYMANOT the Abyssinian who deserved that the Lord grant him working of miracles at an early age.
• Undoubtedly seriousness distinguishes one monk from another, whether in monastic conduct, or in attaining spiritual gifts… or in spiritual growth in general.
We leave monasticism and take up seriousness from the beginning of the way, from repentance.
In repentance
Many said they repented, or thought so, then returned to sin again. Thus they had not repented truly with seriousness.
Serious repentance is to never return to sin at all. More than that, it is to have no longing for sin in any form.
Serious repentance is what Paul alluded to in his rebuke to the Hebrews saying: “Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin” (Heb. 12:4).
Serious repentance does not suffice with the negative side—namely, leaving sin in deed and desire—but rather progresses to positive action such as loving God and acquiring virtues. Like the saints who repented seriously, they changed from penitents to righteous saints. Among these saints we mention Augustine, Moses the Black, Mary of Egypt, Pelagia… all these became leaders in spirituality and examples for penitents in every generation.
No relapse
The serious person in his spiritual life, in his repentance, and in his spiritual struggle does not suffer a relapse or turning back that returns him backward.
In this regard is the profound saying of one serious struggling father:
“I do not remember that the devils overcame me in one sin twice.”
Perhaps the first time was in ignorance, or in negligence and lack of caution. But once he fell and felt what sin led him to, he turned to himself and guarded with all his strength not to fall again in the same sin. As the Lord said, “Remember from whence thou art fallen, and repent” (Rev. 2:5).
Therefore the serious person does not suffer relapses in his spiritual life.
He does not begin in the spirit and finish in the flesh as the Galatians did, whom Paul rebuked (Gal. 3:3). He does not suffer what happened to Demas, the disciple of Paul, who left his great teacher and loved the present world (2 Tim. 4:10). It is said he altogether abandoned Christianity!
Hence we say of the serious one in faith and spirituality that he:
Is not pressed by circumstances
He does not weaken before pressing external circumstances.
Before us is the example of Daniel the prophet. He was a captive in the land of exile, subject to authority. Yet Scripture says of him: “But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank” (Dan. 1:8). That is, he refused seriously to eat of meats that might have been sacrificed to idols, and preferred legumes (Dan. 1:12) — he and his three companions.
Also when the king’s decree went forth that whoever prays to any god or man besides the king shall be cast into the den of lions, Daniel did not fear the king’s decree; he was serious and very plain in his worship of his God. He went to his house, and opened the windows of his upper chamber toward Jerusalem, and prayed to the Lord his God… and the result was that he was cast into the den of lions. But God was also serious with him: He sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths (Dan. 6:22).
Like Daniel were the three holy youths.
Those who in their serious faith preferred to be cast into the fiery furnace sealed seven times rather than bow to the king’s image (Dan. 3:19–20).
Because of their seriousness in faith, the Lord saved them from the furnace.
The serious person in faith and spirituality does not fear, nor is he pressed by external circumstances. Rather he is like a ship cutting its way in the sea, heading to its goal, however storms and waves may blow upon it.
The serious person sets before him: the fear of God, and his destiny in eternity.
He who sets these two before him must walk seriously.
But he who forgets eternity and the fear of God walks according to his own desire and does not care and so loses his soul.
Another point in the qualities of the serious person:
In obeying the commandments
Seriousness appears in the execution of the commandments with speed and exactness.
As Saint ANTONY the Great did: when he heard a verse of Scripture saying “Go sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me” (Matt. 19:21), he immediately went and gave all his possessions to the poor, and followed Christ without hesitation.
When a woman told him, “If you were a monk you would dwell in the inner desert, for this place is not fit for monks,” he considered her word as the voice of God to him, and indeed left that place and dwelt in the inner desert.
Another example is Abraham the father of fathers and of the prophets: when God said to him, “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: and I will make of thee a great nation…” (Gen. 12:1–2) he at once left his country and kindred without hesitation. “By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went” (Heb. 11:8). This is seriousness in carrying out God’s command with all exactness and speed.
Also when God said to him, “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering” (Gen. 22:2), although the command was hard—especially since this son was the one whose birth he had long waited for and by him it was said, “By Isaac shall thy seed be called” (Heb. 11:18)—yet he rose up early (before Sarah awoke), saddled his donkey, took wood and the knife and Isaac, and went according to God’s command.
From God’s side he had to obey, not to argue.
Thus the serious person in executing God’s commandments does not hesitate nor reconsider. He does not walk with slipperiness or laxity in executing the command; he does not let his personal desires hinder him.
He does not enter a stage of preferring or delaying: that is, he does not prefer this matter over that, nor postpone until he finds a solution. Rather he resorts to decisive swift determination in carrying out the command.
Other attributes
The serious person does not resort to justifications and excuses to escape obedience to the command, nor make them a pretext for his shortcoming.
Perhaps one of the most prominent examples is Joseph the righteous, who was a slave in Potiphar’s house and was pressed by sin from the lady’s solicitation. He did not seek excuses that he was a slave, or that he stood before a mistress who had authority over him and could cause him harm. Rather he resisted sin with serious resistance and said: “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (Gen. 39:9). He set before him that this sin is enmity against God (James 4:4).
It is seriousness in executing the command, even if obedience led to prison and disgrace. All that was not an excuse to him nor a justification.
Also the serious person is decisive and does not waver between the two (as Elijah said, 1 Kings 18:21). He does not live in a spiritual condition: up then down, sink then float, sway sometimes he stands and other times he falls—now hot, now cold, now lukewarm!! Rather he has a straight line he does not deviate from. As Scripture says: “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). He does not do like Lot’s wife who looked back. She wavered between two choices: love of Sodom and obedience to the angel’s guidance.
He does not act like Samson: sometimes in Gaza and sometimes in Jerusalem, hesitating between pleasing Delilah and pleasing God by keeping his vow.
The serious person’s life is not of constant change or constantly subject to change. I mean change for the worse or to a lower level.
He does not regret that he chose life with God and preferred the narrow way. He does not return to complain about the heaviness of the cross and the difficulty of the commandments.
He does not weaken before trials and tribulations and before the wars of the devils.
The serious person does not pamper himself nor flatter it, nor walk according to his lust.
Rather he is always characterized by self-control, by continuous struggle on the spiritual path, and by labor for the Lord, as the Apostle said: “Every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour” (1 Cor. 3:8).
For example Saint Paula the zealous labored greatly in her struggles until the Lord said to her: “Enough of thy labor, my beloved Paula.”
The serious person struggles in fighting thoughts and passions, and in fighting wrongful intentions, and struggles in practicing every virtue, or in a life of growth, sensing the blessing of labor for the Lord.
The serious ones are those whom Saint Paul the Apostle addressed: “Be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labour is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Cor. 15:58).
Another trait of the serious person: he does not postpone spiritual work.
He does not postpone:
When grace visits the serious person calling him to repentance, he does not postpone.
• Example: the prodigal son: when he realized his wretched state he said to himself: “How many hired servants of my father have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father…” He did not delay but immediately “arose, and came to his father” (Luke 15:17–20).
Delay indicates lack of seriousness, perhaps lack of desire as well.
• Another example is Felix the governor: the opportunity came to him and grace visited him when Saint Paul spoke of righteousness, temperance, and the coming judgment, and Felix trembled, but because he was not serious in repentance he said to Paul, “Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season I will call for thee” (Acts 24:25). The opportunity was lost due to postponement caused by lack of desire to repent.
• A third example is King Agrippa: the opportunity and visit of grace came to him when Paul spoke about visions and prophets. King Agrippa said to Paul, “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian” (Acts 26:28). Scripture and history do not say the king became a Christian.
As a result of not being serious in accepting faith, he postponed the matter. By postponement the impression faded and the opportunity was lost, and he did not respond to the work of grace in him.
We move to another point which is seriousness in service:
In service
There is a great difference between the serious servant in his ministry and the non-serious.
An example of the serious servant is Saint John the Baptist:
In a short period of about a year this saint was able to lead people to repentance and baptism “confessing their sins” (Matt. 3:6,5). They came to him from “Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan” (Mark 1:5).
He was but “the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight” (Mark 1:3). But he was a strong, serious, effective voice, having “the spirit and power of Elijah,” able to “turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:17). He deserved to be called an angel.
In his seriousness for ministry and his work therein, his success and humility, the Lord said of him: “Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist” and that he was “more than a prophet” (Matt. 11:11,9).
In worship
The serious person cares for depth, not for ritualism and outward religiosity.
If he prays, he prays with depth, fervor, faith, understanding, and reverence. His prayers ascend on high and heaven’s doors open to them. As some believers prayed in the days of the apostles, “the place was shaken where they were assembled, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 4:31).
The serious person is also serious in his vows, pledges, firstfruits, and tithes. As the Psalmist sings: “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD” (Ps. 19:14 / Ps. 119:108 in some traditions).
He does not vow and then begin to debate whether he can change it or replace it with another, or postpone it, or quarter it, or be released from it in some way, or forget it—forgetting the saying in Ecclesiastes: “Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay” (Eccl. 5:5).
The serious person realizes fully that a vow is an agreement between him and God, which must be respected and kept.
The serious person in his spirituality remembers his pledges before God every time he communes or confesses and repents, and he is careful not to go back from his commitment. Indeed he remembers the denial of the devil that his mother denied on his behalf on the day of his baptism.
Thus continually he denies the devil and all his filthy works and all his vile hosts and every remnant of his dominion.
The serious person does not be lax in any of God’s rights.
He is careful to take God’s right from himself before he demands God’s rights from others. He tries to be an example and a good model before he asks others for perfection.
And in God’s rights upon him he places before him the Lord’s word to each shepherd of the seven churches: “I know thy works” (Rev. 2:2).
Therefore it concerns him constantly that all his works be acceptable to God and pleasing altogether to the One who sees them.
The serious person respects his principles and his word and his promises and his way of life.
Battles with the devil
Since seriousness is a sign of manliness and strength of character, and since it is the right road to righteous life and growth therein, the devil fights it with many varied wiles.
The devil in opposing seriousness calls the person to flexibility and not to strictness in carrying out the command, fearing pharisaism and legalism!! He calls his seriousness a kind of extremism, urging the famous phrase “the middle way has saved many.” Whereas the “middle way” has never been an obstacle to the path of holiness and perfection… and flexibility is not another name for laxity or negligence!
Or the devil invites to laxity from exactness and commitment, and from commandments of the Law, saying grace suffices!!
And so one forgets the Lord’s saying: “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me” and “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love” (John 14:21; John 15:10).
Thought may also tempt saying: Why be bound by the commandments?! Enter into the “liberty of the glory of the children of God” (Rom. 8:21)!!
But true freedom is that which the Lord Himself spoke of: “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36).
Freedom is not liberation from the commandments, but liberation from sin.
“Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2 Cor. 3:17), and the Apostle says: “Use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh” (Gal. 5:13).
O my brethren: if the enemy fights you with such thoughts against seriousness, say with the Apostle: “Lest any man should beguile you with enticing words” (2 Cor. 2:11).
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