Do not fear struggle

“Do not be surprised if you fall every day and do not surrender. Stand your ground bravely. And you may be sure that your guardian angel will respect your endurance. A fresh, warm wound is easier to heal than those that are old, neglected, and festering, and that need extensive treatment, surgery, bandaging, and cauterization. Long neglect can render many of the incurable. However, all things are possible with God.”

– St. John of Climascus, Ladder of Divine Ascent

The Christian must not fear struggle in his or her life. Too often in mainline Christianity, struggle with the passions is looked down upon — “how could one who has accepted Christ possibly still struggle with sin? This one must not be saved!”

It is a great delusion to think that we are ever doing “just fine” in our spiritual life. In fact, the more content we are, the more we can be assured that there is something lurking underneath that we are ignoring — it is for this reason that the apostle warns us to take heed lest we fall (1 Cor. 10:12).

Christianity is not fake smiles and rejoicing in God’s blessings of material wealth. God is not interested in what’s in your wallet, what you drive, where you live, who you know, and how involved you are in your church. The world loves these things. The Truth is to be had in and of none of these things — in them is only vanity and death.

Rather, “the Kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). Our external facade does not necessarily reveal anything of our souls. What men see us do and fail to do counts for little when compared to the heart, which, in every last one of us, is filled with despondency and is hardened against God and neighbor. We all must confess this to be true, daily, or we are lost. If we cannot admit to God that we do not love Him as He first loved us, we cannot be saved, for the love of God is beyond comprehension and beyond compare — how shall we compare ourselves to Him Who is love (1 John 4:8)?

In light of this, how is it that so many refuse to admit that they struggle? In some churches, it as seen as a sign that you have failed to seek Christ if you struggle, which is utterly ridiculous. We all must struggle to be saved. The initial encounter with Christ, contrary to what many might preach, cannot be the last. Every day is an ongoing struggle against the passions that would tear us away from Christ, and every moment that we do not set our eyes on Him is a moment given over to the demons. We are at war, and we cannot afford to let our guard down.

To the minds of some in the world today, such warfare is an unacceptable burden. These minds look at their wealth and believe they have been visited with God’s grace and blessing. Perhaps they have, but material possessions are not the way in which we are to judge the bestowing of grace; rather, when we struggle against our passions and succeed in beating back the demons, we know that God’s grace has visited us, for without Him no victory is possible. When we struggle, God is merciful and sends forth His grace to help us defeat the adversaries. If we refuse to struggle against the passions, we may very well be rejecting God’s grace!

It is for that reason that we must not fear to struggle. Our struggles, our askesis, are more invaluable to us than any worldly treasure we may ever come to possess, for those worldly treasures will one day pass away, as fleeting as a puff of wind in an open field, and we will be laid bare before the Creator. Through askesis, however, we come to know God by His divine Spirit through Jesus Christ, and on that day when we meet our Lord, He will know and remember us and have mercy on us. Thus we share in Christ’s victory over death, and just as He struggled through His own life and suffered on the Cross and rose from the dead, so shall we. We mustn’t fear it, because after all, He Himself warned us of the struggles (for example, John 15:19). We cannot ignore His call to pick up our crosses and follow Him as He instructed.

Through the prayers of the Theotokos and all the saints, may God grant us the strength to carry our cross.

~ by Seraphim on March 4, 2008.