Our adversary specializes in confusion. He loves to prey upon minds that are torn and upset by multiple worries, and he often tempts us when we’re so beset by cares that we act on impulse, failing to consider the consequences of our actions.
God cannot be defeated, and this truth is attested by everything ever been known about Him. When, in the face of temporary opposition, we choose to believe the ultimate victory will be His, we adopt a faith the devil can do little to vanquish.
Those who will enjoy heaven are those who know how to be patient, and patience comes down to what the old-timers used to call “grit.” But mark it well: grit is not something some people are born with and others are not. It’s a matter of choice.
Only God can be a perfect source of confidence, and it’s sinful to try to make anyone else fill the role that He alone was meant to fill. He is infallibly trustworthy. We may “commit [our] souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.”
Rejecting what we’ve come to know of God’s will is so foolish, none of us would ever do it if we weren’t deceived. But therein lies the power of sin. The devil is shrewd enough to make slavery seem, for the moment, like it’s better than what we have.
Crude words, and certainly irreverent ones, are almost always symptomatic of a heart that is turned away from God. So Jesus warned us, “By your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:37).
We should be willing to make serious sacrifices for our enemies. God did more than talk about loving His enemies; He sacrificed His Son’s life for them. What treasure would we sacrifice — yes, sacrifice — to promote the salvation of our enemies?
We may feel a warm, condescending glow of ever-so-subtle superiority when we think how little others have suffered. “When they’ve been around as long as we have, they’ll see things differently,” we sigh, congratulating ourselves for being older.
We must acquire the ability to engage in, and even enjoy, things that lead us to God without making idols of these things. All these activities, as pleasant as they are, are a means to a great End. We must constantly bring our minds back to that End.
We fear other people because there is too little fear in our relationship with God. “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul,” Jesus commanded, “But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”