It is easy to get complacent. We find a niche which we like, and we try to stay there, never moving on, never bettering ourselves. But that is not what we should do. We should be challenging ourselves with new opportunities and engaging new concerns as they rise up around us. We should not become complacent. We should not get too comfortable with the way life has turned out for us. Things can and will change, whether we want them to do so or not. We must be willing to work with change, making sure it leads to things becoming better instead of for the worse.
This is especially true in regards the spiritual life. Those of us who try to do what is good, who try to live out the faith, realize God often challenges us with new opportunities, new tasks for us to fulfill. When they come up, we should defer to God and do what he wants. We should let him direct us. This is how we go from seeking particular, limited goods, which come out of our own particular wants and desires, to seeking the true good which transcends all such particularity. If we are not careful, we will listen to our will instead of God. As we close ourselves off from God, we will get stuck in a rut.
Thus, what St. Symeon the New Theologian said about those involved in ministry in the church, can and should be understood as also being true for all Christians and their walk with Christ:
If, after we have committed ourselves to some form of ministry within the Church and have performed honourably, the Spirit should then direct us to some other ministry or work or activity, we should not resist. For God does not want us to be idle, but neither does He want us to be confined for ever to the first work in which we engaged. On the contrary, He wants us to advance, moving always towards the realization of something better, acting in accordance with His will and not our own.[1]
It is easy for us to say we want to serve God, to do what God wants us to do. We might even think we do, But the problem is we do not truly seek after God, but rather, we hope to dictate to God what it is he should expect from us. In doing so, we show we really do not serve God. Instead, we want him to serve us. Often, we do this by doing a little of what God asks, but holding much back in reserve, expecting God to repay us and follow our will thanks to the little we have done to follow his. God knows our true potential. He wants us to be flexible, to be willing to follow his direction, so that we will not only realize that potential, but, uniting ourselves with him, find ourselves transformed so that our potential becomes greater thanks to his grace.. We risk stifling it when we are not flexible with God, that is, when we do not let him direct us with his providence.
It is very important for us not to become too attached to one way of life. It might be good. It might be a good which we should be doing at one time in our life. But if do not exercise detachment, we will end up fighting the greater good which God would have us follow, and so we will try to hold still, keeping where we are at, not changing things which need to be changed.
We must make sure we follow God’s will instead of our own. Even if what we think is good, is good, when it is not united with God’s greater will, it will turn out to be a limited good. It might be what we need to do for a limited time, but eventually, we must move on and engage other goods, so that we can attain those goods which we have not yet developed for ourselves.
“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (Jas. 1:22 RSV1). This is especially important for those of us who are naturally inclined to think and write. It might be our calling. It might be a part of who and what we should be doing. Many great saints are great saints because of their scholarly studies. But we must do more than think and write. The great saints, the great scholar saints, can be seen engaging more goods than those involved with scholarly studies. They followed God in acts of charity. They followed God, not only in speaking out against injustice, but doing what they can to promote actual justice. They did not live the faith by turning it into something theoretical: they were doers of the word. They found themselves challenged to do more than think about dogmatic concerns. They can be seen throughout their lives interacting with new people, learning about them, helping to take care of their needs. They realized the faith had to be lived, and they let themselves to be molded and shaped by what happened to them. They continued their intellectual pursuits, but they did so in such a way that they integrated a holistic approach to the faith, allowing God to transform them in ways beyond scholarly endeavors.
Abraham is one of the greatest examples of what it means to be a follower of God. He went out into the world without knowing where God would take him. He was not perfect. He made mistakes along the way, just as we all do. But as he allowed God to correct him, he was able to become a source of inspiration and truth for many who came after him. Abraham did not get attached to where he went. He did not get attached to the world at large. He recognized its goodness and beauty. He did not nihilistically deny earthly goods (which is why he looked forward to what would happen in the world with his descendants). But he also recognized that his acceptance of the world also needed to be one which was detached from it, one in which he did not try to control or dominate it or be dominated by it. Thus, in his detachment, he allowed himself to die to the self, and in doing so, he was able to receive all the promises God intended him to have. He did not hold himself back. He was constantly on the move. He looked after the needs of the people he met in his journeys, becoming a man of great hospitality, and it is in that hospitality he was able find his closest connection with God (at Mamre).
Let us hope we can learn from Abraham’s example, to be so moved by God that we detach ourselves from all things which separate us from God. If we do so, we will become great men and women of compassion, showing forth the love of God to all. We will have nothing to hold us back because we will have put it all aside. And then, like Abraham, we will never become so attached to where we are at; instead, we will be able to move on and accomplish what new, better things God desires us to achieve.
[1] St. Symeon the New Theologian, “Practical and Theological Texts” in The Philokalia. The Complete Text. Volume IV. Trans. G.E.H. Palmer, Philip Sherrard, Kallistos Ware et. al (London: Faber and Faber, 1995), 45 [#96].
Stay in touch! Like A Little Bit of Nothing on Facebook.
If you liked what you read, please consider sharing it with your friends and family!
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In