March
21
Since the promise of
entering His rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to
have fallen short of it (Hebrews 4:1 NIV).
For those who, like the
New Testament writers, have a real burden and sense of responsibility for the spiritual
life of God's people, one of the most heart-breaking things is the way in which
so many who gave promise of going right on with the Lord are caught in some
side-track and turn to something other or less than He meant for them. Not
necessarily to sin or to the world, but to something which, while it brings
them a great deal of gratification for a time, eventually proves to be a
diversion resulting in arrested spiritual growth, and they are found in a
backwater, a cul-de-sac, occupied with an alternative to "the whole
counsel of God." Their "new discovery," or "light," or
"guidance," as they speak of it, by reason of the let-up of some
tension, solution to some problems, promise of release into self-realization,
and escape from pressure, when the novelty and glamour have worn off is found
to have been "deceitful waters," producing Jericho's fruits which
fall before they are ripe....
The peril or snare will
be cunningly and ingeniously adapted to the 'prey.' What would capture some
would make no appeal to others. The most spiritual will be presented with
what appears to be most spiritual. Our particular temperament
will be our peculiar danger. We shall have to, ever and always, be governed by
principle, and not by feelings, preferences, arguments, or natural appeal.
Intellectual palliatives, emotional ecstasies, activity-gratifications must be
suspected or challenged. The one question must be paramount – Where does this
lead? Does it essentially and intrinsically relate to the one supreme purpose
of God?
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