Struggle Is Good for the Soul
Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent – March 26, 2015
JOHN THE DWARF asked God to mitigate his passions. He became calm and imperturbable. He told a hermit, “I now rest in peace. There is no struggle between my flesh and my spirit.”
The hermit replied, “Pray that the Lord will start a new war in you. Struggle is good for the soul.”
When the old conflicts returned John did not pray that God would take them away. Instead, he prayed, “Lord, give me the strength to survive this battle.”
[Bernard Bangley, By Way of the Desert, p. 118]
One prevalent modern-day heresy related to Christianity is that if you are faithful, you’ll never have to struggle in life. . . . or if you pray correctly, or pray enough, you’ll never experience tragedy. . . . or if you just believe enough, God will make you prosperous – health, wealth, and all the “good things” of life.
Abba John the Dwarf – who was something of a Desert Father’s version of Simon Peter, always putting his foot in his mouth – thought he had attained a state of peace and contentment in which he would never have to struggle again, calm and imperturbable. It seems that John was ready to retire from the spiritual life, and live off the proceeds of his spiritual IRA for the rest of his days!
John’s brother in the desert, however, had another word for him. “Pray that the Lord will start a new war within you.” Another translation of this saying says, “Beseech the Lord to stir up warfare within you.”
Either way, the point is clear. The goal of the spiritual life is not to attain a state where we no longer have difficulties; rather, it is to find in the difficulties (warfare, struggles) of daily life the context for our growing life in God. Struggle shapes us. Warfare keeps us sharp and helps us stay alert. As the hermit said, “Struggle is good for the soul.”
I find that many, many Christians spend a lot of their prayer time trying to escape struggle and difficulty, asking God to take away struggle and to sand down all the rough edges of life. Perhaps, following the words of Abba John, we should not be asking that God take away the conflicts, but that God would give us strength and courage to survive the battle . . . and that within the battle, God would shape us into the people we were created to become.
JOHN THE DWARF asked God to mitigate his passions. He became calm and imperturbable. He told a hermit, “I now rest in peace. There is no struggle between my flesh and my spirit.”
The hermit replied, “Pray that the Lord will start a new war in you. Struggle is good for the soul.”
When the old conflicts returned John did not pray that God would take them away. Instead, he prayed, “Lord, give me the strength to survive this battle.”
[Bernard Bangley, By Way of the Desert, p. 118]
One prevalent modern-day heresy related to Christianity is that if you are faithful, you’ll never have to struggle in life. . . . or if you pray correctly, or pray enough, you’ll never experience tragedy. . . . or if you just believe enough, God will make you prosperous – health, wealth, and all the “good things” of life.
Abba John the Dwarf – who was something of a Desert Father’s version of Simon Peter, always putting his foot in his mouth – thought he had attained a state of peace and contentment in which he would never have to struggle again, calm and imperturbable. It seems that John was ready to retire from the spiritual life, and live off the proceeds of his spiritual IRA for the rest of his days!
John’s brother in the desert, however, had another word for him. “Pray that the Lord will start a new war within you.” Another translation of this saying says, “Beseech the Lord to stir up warfare within you.”
Either way, the point is clear. The goal of the spiritual life is not to attain a state where we no longer have difficulties; rather, it is to find in the difficulties (warfare, struggles) of daily life the context for our growing life in God. Struggle shapes us. Warfare keeps us sharp and helps us stay alert. As the hermit said, “Struggle is good for the soul.”
I find that many, many Christians spend a lot of their prayer time trying to escape struggle and difficulty, asking God to take away struggle and to sand down all the rough edges of life. Perhaps, following the words of Abba John, we should not be asking that God take away the conflicts, but that God would give us strength and courage to survive the battle . . . and that within the battle, God would shape us into the people we were created to become.
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