“Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.” (Heb. 10:38)
When you sign up as a Christian, you sign up for everything, it is gradual, but growth is expected. There are no shortcuts, there are no easy places to place your feet on the path, there are moments of rest, but that rest is to be only in the Lord.
You signed up for challenges, for hardships, to run the race and run it well, you signed up to die to self and to hate this world.
If you are not profitable, then you are unprofitable, and must contemplate this verse. “And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matt. 25:30)
The work requires fortitude and determination, at the expense of everything else in your life, the cross you are to bear is to be carried continuously.
“And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:27)
Hypocrites, those who profess Him with their lips only, will attempt to refute these words, for they believe life is to be lived to its fullest, enjoying all the benefits one can afford in an attempt to enjoy as much as possible. The work for them is part-time, and in those times when they believe, falsely, that they are profitable, there must be for them some form of reward, either the continuation of that life they enjoy and those things of the world, or at least emotionally uplifting moments that they mistakenly call the joy of the Lord, but which in all reality are nothing more than good feelings from a deceiving heart.
Ask yourself this question, the last time you watched a two-hour long movie, or spent an evening perusing the television or internet, did you at the close of the evening feel a sense of loss of something? A gnawing feeling that perhaps you just wasted a few hours of the ever dwindling time remaining to you?
If you have truly been born-again, then you know who it was that was speaking to you.
Herein lies the proof of that life of sanctification, those that recognize that voice do something about it, they do not shrug it off, they do not make false promises to either the Lord or themselves, and they do not begin to run the race again only to sit on the bench a few miles down the road.
As stated earlier in this short letter to you though, this is gradual, it is progressive growth, you are being sanctified, there is no end to that sanctification until we are glorified.
Again, I pose this question to you, how long does a prodigal son need to stay away before one can come to the conclusion that he was never crucified with Christ in the first place?
If you can watch that two hour movie and compare it in your mind to relevant Scripture verses, well and good, but this is not a “What would Jesus do” moment and it is most definitely not a “He gets us” one either, it is what are you supposed to be doing, what have you been commanded to do and are you doing it?
I have watched parts of very long marathon races and noticed that as the runner passes by, someone hands them a bottle of water. If they grab it, well and good, if they drop it, they do not stop, turn around and pick it up, they keep running.
“And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.” (1st Cor. 9:25)
Temperate is a biblical term that means to exercise power or self-control over one’s appetites, emotions and attitudes.
Not everyone who enters into the Kingdom of the Most High God will receive a crown, some may lose many rewards, but one thing is sure, everyone there will have been profitable in some form for His Kingdom while they were here.
“Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.” (Rev. 3:11)
