Being Diligent

Diligence: n, 'constant and earnest effort to accomplish what is undertaken.'

It's a character trait that we value in people.  And it is one that is easily recognized, because they are always active, pursuing a goal.  They don't waste time in idle pursuits.

We look for these traits in people within the physical realm.  Those who are diligent manage to acquire, achieve, attain things which are tangible.

But do we ever look for this trait in the spiritual realm?  Do we see it in others?  And what would "seeing it" look like, since it is NOT tangible?  More to the point, do we pursue spiritual diligence in ourselves?

St. Peter of Damascus writes this:

Without attentiveness and watchfulness of the intellect we cannot be saved and rescued from the devil, who walks about ‘like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour’ (1 Pet. 5:8). For this reason the Lord often said to His disciples, ‘Watch and pray; for you do not know at what hour your Lord is coming’ (Matt. 26:41, 24:42). Through them He was giving a warning to us all about the remembrance of death, so that we should be prepared to offer a defense, grounded in works and attentiveness, that will be acceptable to God. For the demons, as St Hilarion has said, are immaterial and sleepless, concerned only to fight against us and to destroy our souls through word, act and thought. We lack a similar persistence, and concern ourselves now with our comfort and with ephemeral opinion, now with worldly matters, now with a thousand and one other things. We are not in the least interested in examining our life, so that our intellect may develop the habit of so doing and may give attention to itself unremittingly.

St. Peter instructs us to see that we must develop the habit of seeking spiritual gain.  It won't happen by osmosis.  We are in fact "miners" of salvation, digging, seeking that vein of ore that brings spiritual reward.  Miners don't go to work unarmed.  They carry picks, shovels, gloves.  They don't expect to have the ore jump out and offer itself to them.  They know that they must exert themselves with the greatest of effort, expending their strength to make gains.

Spiritual gains are no different.  They come with great effort.  They come as we arm ourselves with the requisite tools - prayer, fasting, prostrations.  They require training by reading scripture and the Fathers.  

It requires diligence.

St. Theophan the Recluse teaches this:

While you will not achieve anything just by your own labor, God will not give you anything if you do not labor with all your might.

The path to salvation leads through one's spending oneself in the search for the Kingdom, and the Kingdom is NOT of this world!

Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness... (Mat 6:33)