Seriousness in the Spiritual Life
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 walks seriously in any work or any project can succeed more than one who takes the matter lightly, because seriousness gives him fervor and perseverance, and drives him to perfect the work.
Likewise, those who walk in seriousness place before themselves perfection and idealism.
A person who walks in his spiritual life with seriousness sets before him the verse that says: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48), and also: “Be holy; for I am holy.” He strives toward this perfection with all his strength, and struggles to obtain the holiness without which no one shall see the Lord.
Thus the person who walks seriously advances one step every day.
He is in continual growth, because he walks in the way of the Lord with all his strength, with all that God has granted him of grace and abilities. Every day he increases in knowledge of the Lord, and grows more attached to Him; every day he becomes deeper, acquires new virtues, and draws nearer to God.
Thus the saints lived—in seriousness and in continual growth:
Take, for example, the saints of repentance, who were serious in their repentance. Not only did they not return again to sin, but they grew in grace until they reached purity and holiness, strove toward perfection, and became leaders in spiritual life. Augustine became a fountain of spiritual contemplations; Moses the Black became one of the fathers of monasticism and its guides; Mary the Copt became one of the solitaries and blessed Saint Zosimas.
These serious ones placed before them the saying of the Apostle Paul: “So run, that ye may obtain” (1 Corinthians 9:24). Thus they walked swiftly in the way of the Lord.
And so we find that the saints—through their seriousness—arrived quickly.
Look at Saint Theodore, the disciple of Abba Pachomius, or at Saint John the Short. Each became a guide to many while still young, newly in monasticism, and surpassed the elders of his days.
Saint Abba Shenouda entered into holiness while a child of nine years old, and he would raise his hands and his fingers would shine like candles. Thus also the holiness of Saint Mark the Hermit appeared in his childhood, and likewise Saint Takla Haymanot, and Maximus and Domadius, because they took the spiritual life seriously and entered into its depth while still young. Saint Misael the Solitary reached the degree of anchorite at the age of seventeen. Saint John the Baptist prepared the way of the Lord—in his seriousness—in about a year.
The serious person does not know slackness or sleep.
He does not sleep relying on the work of grace or depending on divine help, for it is written: “Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully” (Jeremiah 48:10). The serious person does not know the meaning of negligence at all, because negligence does not agree with seriousness. Rather, the serious one labors to the utmost of his ability, and as the Apostle said: “Every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour” (1 Corinthians 3:8). Thus the Lord said to the angel of the church of Ephesus: “I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience” (Revelation 2:2), “and hast borne… for My name’s sake, and hast not fainted” (Revelation 2:3).
The life of seriousness led the saints into a life of struggle—
That struggle which the Scripture asks of us, rebuking us by saying: “Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin” (Hebrews 12:4). Thus the serious person is faithful in his spiritual work unto death. He enters into the spiritual life with all his strength and all his abilities.
The serious person never compromises in the spiritual life, nor seeks middle solutions, nor looks for excuses.
He never negotiates with sin. He does not take and give with it, but acts with firmness, as righteous Joseph did when he said: “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (Genesis 39:9). With steadfastness and firmness he resisted sin, fled from its place, and endured what he endured.
Thus we find that the one who walks seriously never hesitates.
It is the unsettled person who hesitates, the one who has not yet made his final decisive decision. But the serious person in his spiritual life has his goal fixed 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 fathers, when the Lord commanded him to offer his only son as a burnt offering.
How he rose very early in the morning, in determination, before Sarah awoke, took his son with the wood and the knife, and with resolve built the altar, bound his son upon the wood, and lifted 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 serious person in his spiritual life does not limp between two opinions.
Elijah the prophet rebuked the people of his time, saying to them: “How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him” (1 Kings 18:21). Therefore the serious believer does not give an hour to his Lord and an hour to his heart, for his heart is with his Lord, and his Lord is in his heart. He does not worship two masters, nor serve two.
He is not a person who goes down and up, sinks and floats, each time in a different state. No, 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 within him no rival to the Lord.
The life of seriousness has trained him in decisive, firm, and swift resolution.
He does not think in a lax manner, nor move in a slippery way, but is firm and steadfast, as the Apostle said: “Be ye stedfast, unmoveable” (1 Corinthians 15:58). When he resolved 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 passed beyond the stage of preference and entered into the stability of determination that says: “The friendship of the world is enmity with God” (James 4:4), “If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). Here is decisive firmness and no negotiation with evil.
Therefore the serious believer’s heart is pure for the Lord.
He has no personal inclination, nor any other pleasure apart from the Lord. He has no personal will apart from the will of the Lord. Rather, with all his heart he says: “I have suffered the loss of all things… and count them but dung, that I may win Christ” (Philippians 3:8).
The serious believer is not satisfied with formalities or outward appearances.
His seriousness has made him cast his nets into the deep, and no formalities in worship can satisfy his conscience.
He is not satisfied with words spoken in prayer without meditation, without understanding, without reverence, without faith. Nor can he say in this case, “I have prayed.” Such formalities do not agree with his seriousness. He does not deceive himself and say he has 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 continual progress gives no opportunity to go backward. One of the saints says: “I do not remember that the demons overthrew me in one sin twice.” Perhaps he fell into sin through ignorance or deception from the devil. But after he knew his trickery, he did not allow him to make him fall again. It is seriousness in repentance.
No doubt Lot’s wife was not serious in her departure from Sodom; therefore she looked back and perished.
But the serious person, once he puts his hand to the plough, does not look back again, nor long for sin.
On this basis, we say that the people of Israel did not walk in repentance seriously when they left the land of Egypt. Therefore we see them longing for the fish, meat, garlic, and leeks of Egypt. Like Lot’s wife, they looked back.
The person who is not serious in his spiritual life is exposed to setbacks.
He may begin in the Spirit and finish in the flesh, because he did not walk seriously. Thus he leaves his first love and is exposed to losing his crown. Samson was not at the level of seriousness with God during his relationship with Delilah; therefore he suffered a severe setback and fell.
But Jephthah, who was serious in his vow, never fell, although the trial he faced was beyond strength.
This reminds us of many who are not serious in their vows.
He may appear serious when he makes a vow. But when God grants 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? Some may not fulfill it at all and lose their seriousness in their vow.
Indeed, many times we lose this seriousness in many promises with God.
How many promises have we made to God and not fulfilled? How many commitments have we not respected or adhered to? How many responsibilities have we formally borne before God and not fulfilled because we did not walk in the spiritual life seriously?
Where are our vows on the day we renounced Satan in baptism and renounced all his wiles, all his soldiers, and all his thoughts? Then we returned…
Where are our vows each time we confess and partake?
Because of lack of seriousness, a person often regrets walking in the way of God, or murmurs, or becomes distressed.
When he walks in the spiritual way and feels the weight of the cross upon his shoulder, or feels weariness from the narrow way and the strait gate, or when a trial from the devil strikes him who envies his spiritual life—then he may regret, envy the wicked, or sin. As Peter feared and lost the seriousness of his promise: “Though all men shall be offended because of Thee, yet will I never be offended,” “Even if I should die with Thee, yet will I not deny Thee” (Matthew 26:33, 35).
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 Paul the Apostle: “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian” (Acts 26:28), was certainly not serious. Likewise when Felix said to Paul the Apostle: “Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee” (Acts 24:25). His postponement indicated his lack of seriousness. Thus every postponement—whether in repentance, in responding to the work of grace, in accepting ministry, or in undertaking any spiritual work—
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