“A man engaged to
the world may profess faith in Christ, but he will quickly show his true colors
when forced to make a choice between Christ and Satan.
All that God
chooses to give, He can also choose to deny. If you are not a Christian, you
may have some knowledge of the things of God, but, even so, you may die without
saving knowledge at last.
A man engaged to
the world may profess faith in Christ, but he will quickly show his true colors
when forced to make a choice between Christ and Satan. When Satan bribes him
with worldly treasures to abandon his profession of the Savior, he will, like
Demas, show where his love lies. Or if his lusts call him, he must go, in spite
of profession, conscience, God, and all. Herod feared John the Baptist, but
love is stronger than fear. His love for Herodias overcame his fear of John,
and made him cut off not only John's head but the hopeful buddings of his
conscience as well. If the complexion of the soul is profane, it will finally
show itself, though for a while there may be some religious color in a man's
face from some external cause. The lack of a thorough change of heart is the
root of all final apostasy. The apostate does not lose the grace he had, but
only discovers that he never had any. Many take up their sainthood upon a false
pretense, and use the credit they have gained from others' opinions of them to
establish their trade among God's true saints. These false professors assume
they are Christians because others suppose them to be. Their whole reputation
is built on an outward show of religion. The fact that they have no stock of
solid grace within to maintain them in their profession proves their undoing at
last.
Let us therefore
consider upon what basis we take up our declaration of faith. Is there anything
within us that is proportionate to our outward zeal? Have we laid a good
foundation? Is the superstructure top-heavy, jutting too far beyond the weak
foundation? The roots of a tree spread as far underground as the branches do
above; so does true grace.”
Quoted material from, ”The Christian in Complete
Armour Daily Readings in Spiritual Warfare” by Gurnall and James S Bell.
http://www.moodypublishers.com/pub_productDetail.aspx?id=41823&pid=53617
No comments:
Post a Comment