Therefore,
my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now
much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and
trembling,
for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good
purpose. Philippians 2:12-13
William Law, in his terrible,
cool voice, said,… ‘If you have not chosen the Kingdom of God, it will make in
the end no difference what you have chosen instead.’ Those are hard words to
take. Will it really make no difference whether it was women or patriotism,
cocaine or art, whisky or a seat in the Cabinet, money or science? Well, surely
no difference that matters. We shall have missed the end for which we are
formed and rejected the only thing that satisfies. Does it matter to a man
dying in a desert by which choice of route he missed the only well?
It is a remarkable fact that on
this subject Heaven and Hell speak with one voice. The tempter tells me, ‘Take
care. Think how much this good resolve, the acceptance of the Grace, is going
to cost.’ But Our Lord equally tells us to count the cost. Even in human
affairs great importance is attached to the agreement of those whose testimony
hardly ever agrees. Here, more. Between them it would seem to be pretty clear
that paddling is of little consequence. What matters, what Heaven desires and
Hell fears, is precisely that further step, out of our depth, out of our
control.
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