Thursday. [I John 1:8–2:6; Mark 13:31–14:2]

What the Apostle directed us towards yesterday, the Gospel now suggests directly to us: Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time.… Watch ye therefore ... lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping (Mark 13:33, 35–6). It is necessary to wait, and every instant to keep in mind that the Lord is about to appear and shine like lightning from one end of the universe to the other. It is thought by some that it is possible to replace this waiting upon the Lord with waiting for death. This is good, or at least this should be done. But awaiting the coming of the Lord is one thing, and awaiting death another. They lead to different thoughts, and to different feelings born under the impact of these different thoughts. Await the day of the Lord, when all will end in an irrevocable determination. After our death, time will still continue in an undecided state; but the day of the Lord will assign everything for eternal ages, and it will be sealed, so you cannot expect any changes. “I have been waiting,” you say. So wait longer, and continue to wait. “But this,” you say, “will poison all my joys.” It will not poison your joys—it will only drive away from your everyday life those joys that are illegitimately so-called. You will still rejoice, only in the Lord. It is possible to wait for the Lord with this joy; and if the Lord finds you in this joy, He will not call you to account, but will praise you.

Friday. [I John 2:7–17; Mark 14:3–9]

The world passeth away, and the lust thereof (I John 2:17). Who does not see this? Everything around us passes away—things, people, events; and we ourselves are passing away. Worldly lust also passes; we scarcely taste the sweetness of its satisfaction before both the lust and the sweetness disappear. We chase after something else, and it is the same; we chase after a third thing—again the same. Nothing stands still; everything comes and goes. What? Is there really nothing constant?! There is, says the Apostle: he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever (I John 2:17). How does the world, which is so transient, endure? Because God so desires that the world endure. The will of God is the world’s unshakeable and indestructible foundation. It is the same among people—whosoever begins to stand firmly in the will of God is made steadfast and firm at once. One’s thoughts are restless when chasing after something transient. But as soon as one comes to his senses and returns to the path of the will of God, his thoughts and intentions begin to settle down. When at last one succeeds in acquiring the habit for such a way of life, everything he has, both within and without, comes into quiet harmony and serene order. Having begun here, this deep peace and imperturbable serenity will pass over to the other life as well, and there it will abide unto the ages. Amidst the general transience of things around us, this is what is not transient, and what is constant within us: walking in the will of God.

Monday (36th). [III John 1:1–14; Luke 19:29–40, 22:7–39]

What does it mean to walk in truth (III John 1:4)? It means accepting truth in your heart, abiding in such thoughts and feelings as the truth requires. Thus, it is the truth that God is everywhere and sees everything. He who accepts this truth with his heart and begins to keep himself both inwardly and outwardly as if God Himself were before him and were seeing everything within him, is walking in this truth. It is the truth that God contains all, and that without Him we cannot do anything successfully. He who accepts this with his heart, and turns in prayer in whatever he does for help to God, accepting whatever happens to him as being from the hand of the Lord—is walking in this truth. It is the truth that death could steal us away at any hour, and after death immediately comes the judgement. He who accepts this truth with his heart, and begins to live as if he were about to die this minute and appear before the judgement of God, is walking in this truth. So it is concerning every other truth.