Where God Is, There Is Blessedness: In Whom God Will Reign Within

“«Seek… first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness»” (Matt. 6:33).

Following this divine commandment, I now wish to speak to you of the same thing—of the complete turning of our hearts toward the Lord.

Although this is the most ordinary subject, for what is more ordinary than the thought: «Detach yourself from everything and seek the Lord alone, in whom is the fullness of goods»—yet as He, perhaps more than any other, is forgotten, just as the thought of the sun, so necessary for us and constantly illuminating us, is forgotten, it is necessary to keep reminding about Him, and not only to point out, but also to manifest this sun on the spiritual horizon of our soul. Our consciousness and our heart should not be drawn away from what is chief. And where the heart is, the discourse is sweet and it is sweet to listen, even if it be continuous. So do not grow weary.

“«Seek… first the Kingdom of God»”. “«Seek first…»” — that is, in the series of your cares and concerns, seeking the Kingdom of God must stand first. This must be your chief work; all else must be an appendage, must follow this as its fruit and addition.

What then is the Kingdom of God? It is the reign of God. Where is this Kingdom? This “«Kingdom of God is within you»”, the Lord legislates (Lk. 17:21). Therefore, the Kingdom of God is the reign of God within you, and seeking the Kingdom of God is seeking that God might reign within us. Over what? Over all that is in us—over our thoughts, desires, feelings, intentions, deeds—seeking that God might become the King of our mind, heart, and will… God is the King of our mind when the mind, through obedience to faith, having assimilated to itself all that has been communicated to us in holy revelation, thinks only of the one God and judges all that exists and comes to be according to God. God is the King of our will and conscience when, having impressed in ourselves the commandments of God and made them an unbreakable law for ourselves, we allow ourselves neither small nor great to deviate by even a hair’s breadth from the perceived will of God. God is the God of our heart when, having experienced the sweetness of the Divine, it rejects all earthly sweetness and, finding no taste in anything earthly, lives entirely in heaven, where its treasure is.

Thus it happens “«within»”. But the Kingdom of God extends also outward… For when all that is said occurs within us, then all external things are likewise restructured according to the same spirit and direction; then the spirit begins to act through tongue and eyes and hearing and all other senses; then the same spirit directs all external movement and all action—in solitude, in the family, in office, in society, and in all life relationships… In short, then in all the manifestations of our inner and outer life God becomes the tangible guide, which is impressed upon the attention of all, according to the Lord’s word: “«thus let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father who is in heaven»” (Matt. 5:16)

He in whom God has reigned within you see participating in all deeds to which his position binds him; but in them he is only outward, inward he is wholly in God, from whom issue for him the directives for all deeds and undertakings, their number, scope, and manner of fulfillment. In such is truly fulfilled what the Apostle commanded: “«those who have wives be as though they had none; and those who weep be as though they did not weep; and those who rejoice be as though they did not rejoice; and those who buy be as though they did not possess; and those who use the world be as though they did not use it»” (1 Cor. 7:29-31).

Thus in him who seeks the Kingdom of God and finds it, “God” becomes “all in all»” (1 Cor. 15:28); so that just as in heaven He rests upon the Cherubim and Seraphim, so He rests in him upon all the powers of his spirit, which itself, dissolving in Him through consciousness and self-activity, directs all—inwardly and outwardly—toward pleasing Him alone, having loved Him as commanded—with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your thought, and with all your strength (Mark 12:30; Lk. 10:27).

To this thought I bring to your mind one circumstance from the Old Testament history. In God’s people it often happened that one, two, and more kings in succession arose who, carried away by pagan customs, introduced idolatry and worshipped idols in their own lands. Then idols appeared in great number—on hills, in groves, in city squares, and even in the temple itself. They were served, and the service of the true God was forgotten. But when God raised up a king after His own heart, such as Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, Josiah, and others, he made it his first task to purify the temple, the city, all the hills and groves, and all the kingdom from idols. Impiety was driven away, piety shone forth. The one true God was honored and worshipped in the temple, and in the city, and in the villages, and in the fields. God was visibly the King among them.

Something similar happens in us. Each of us is a small kingdom. The king is we ourselves—our consciousness and self-will. The subjects are the powers of our being—the powers of body, soul, and spirit. The sanctuary of God in us is the heart. When our king—our consciousness and freedom—turns away from God and inclines toward itself and creatures, then the heart becomes filled with the passions and perverse inclinations as if with some idols; every power of soul and body becomes the temple of worship of its own particular idol… God is forgotten. We serve then, in the body, for example, sensuality, sloth, lust, sleep, cursing in dances, revelries, theaters, and such things, as pagans served Venus, Bacchus, and others. In the soul we serve vainglory, pleasing men, envy, anger, hatred, the interests of a passion to shine, to please, and such things, from which all compose themselves into the idol of self-will and hardened egoism—that is, we become universally idolatrous and serve foreign gods with all our powers. We are in God-forgetfulness, God-aversion, God-enmity. But when the mercy of God finally meets us and sends the spirit of fear and reverence, our king—our consciousness and freedom—awakens and, turning toward God, zealously begins to purify its kingdom from all idols, drives the passions from all its powers, and, in their place, imprints corresponding virtues, so as to please God, having determined to serve Him alone to the end of my life; then in our sanctuary there dwells not self-will, but self-denial and devotion to God, and in soul and body instead of the passions—the holy fruits of the Spirit: humility, meekness, temperance, purity, love, peace, patience, diligence, and so forth, and all this for God’s sake, for pleasing Him, in the sense of complete dependence on Him and the obligation of conscience—all things direct according to His will and to His glory. Then godliness, love of God, devotion to God, worship of God are restored in us. God reigns in us, and all that is opposed to God—small or great, inward or outward—is driven out and destroyed. Behold the reign of God in us!

Let no one think: «All divine and all is God… and nothing else… nothing of the goods of the world around us… How is this hard, dry, joyless!..» On the contrary, it is here that we have our place, our station, our paradise, when we turn toward God and direct all toward pleasing Him alone. For when this happens on our part, then God does not remain a distant observer of these changes within us, but Himself descends to us and unites Himself with our soul. And where God is, there is blessedness. Like a bridegroom and bride who love each other mutually, so blessed are the souls that through dedication to God have united themselves with Him. One need only strictly observe the conditions of this union and its obligations. The Apostle said: “«I am jealous for you” (the believers, the newly converted) “with the jealousy of God, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ»” (2 Cor. 11:2). You know the feelings of a bride toward her bridegroom?! Such should be the feelings of our souls toward Christ the Lord. To a bride then it never occurs to gaze at anything else; only the bridegroom fills her thoughts and feelings. So should we be disposed toward the Lord. And even with the thought of inclining toward anything else but Him is already a breach of the bridal union with Him—not to mention in feelings and dispositions. “«Your God… is a jealous God»”, says the prophet (Deut. 4:24). As a husband or bridegroom is jealous, so is God jealous of our souls. He cannot bear that we incline our hearts toward anything but Him. But just as a wife or bride, although by the law of cohabitation she is in good relations with all, yet her heart is given to the husband or bridegroom alone, so should the soul—let her occupy herself with all that she cannot fail to occupy herself with by the conditions of life, but her inward turning must be wholly directed to the one God. A bridegroom or husband does not distinguish whether it is a large or small person toward whom his wife or bride wishes to incline, but he does not tolerate the very inclination toward anyone, whosoever it may concern. So also God is angry at a soul that nourishes attachment to anything great or small. And all this He sees. A bride may somehow hide her unfaithfulness from her bridegroom, but one cannot hide anything from God. All He sees—and He is not indifferent to the betrayals of our hearts… And He sends punishment straightaway—by cutting short the outpouring of His generosity into the soul, which with this inclination from God begins to experience darkening in thought, disorder in desire, disturbance in feeling… and this if the inclination is small! What then is to be said of the great?! Then the Lord departs… abandons the soul… divorces Himself from it. But when the Lord does not unite Himself with the soul, then yourselves know—who does… May the Lord spare us all from this calamity!

Thus, brothers, for not the first time I turn my discourse to this: we must not in part, but entirely submit ourselves to the Lord and entrust ourselves to Him, so that you, if you do not bend your will to this, at the very least in spirit say to yourselves in your soul: «There is no other way; it is necessary to seek the Lord and to turn toward Him alone with all our being. Only one thing remains: either destruction or this. One cannot “«serve God and mammon»” (Matt. 6:24). “«He who is not with Me” is, said the Lord, “that one” “against” “Me” “is”; “and he who does not gather with Me scatters»” (Lk. 11:23)

Do not be afraid! Hold in mind one thing: such an ordering of life is not violence, but escape to freedom; it is not sorrow, but blessedness; it is not deprivation, but entry into the fullness of well-being. And, holding this in mind, stir yourselves accordingly to the deed.

May the Lord send courage to your hearts and strength to your spirit. Amen.