Thursday, February 12, 2009

Inconsistent Christians



Association with inconsistent Christians has been the downfall of many young believers. The devil delights to use God’s own birds as a decoy for his nets. “I could not have thought it,” says the young Christian, “that men whom I esteemed as saints would have acted so.” “Well, well,” is the next reflection, “if these are good men, and go to heaven, and yet act so ill, then I need not be so precise;” and thus, by a course of reasoning which sin makes as easy as casting up accounts by a ready reckoner, we arrive at the conclusion, that perhaps what we avoided as a sin, may have been no sin at all, and we therefore indulge in it without stint, and step by step come down to the level of this evil generation. He who handles edged tools, is apt to cut his fingers, and none the less so because the knife is made of the best steel. Let us walk warily among men, like a man with naked feet when going over thorny ground, lest our hurt be grievous.

From a sermon entitled "A Warning Against Hardness of Heart," delivered March 19, 1865. Image by Audrey under Creative Commons License.

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