“In the best utopia, I must be prepared for the moral fall of any man in any position at any moment; especially for my fall from my position at this moment.” Chesterton on Orthodoxy
Be careful when you stand, lest you fall. (1 Corinthians 10:12)
Guard your heart for from it flow the issues of life. (Proverbs 4:22)
“Hold me back from presumptuous sins…” (Psalm 19:12)
You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness….
2 Peter 3:17 (NASB)
“Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is…. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse in us until we try to fight it; and Christ, because He was the only one who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means.
No one knows how bad they are until they have tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people don’t know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie….
One who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. This is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness…they have lived a sheltered life by always giving in.
You know the strength of an opposing army by fighting it, not surrender…the strength of wind by walking in it, not lying down.”
C. S. Lewis
May these profound tidbits cause us to run to Jesus Christ and the all-sufficiency (El Shaddai, God Almighty, the All Sufficient One) of His saving Life, finding in Him ALONE the Sovereign saving and keeping power to stay in His life giving path, finishing well and fulfilling His purposes in, through and around us.
Faithful is He who calls us, Who will also bring it to pass.
Determined,
Mitch
At a particular point in my career, I was advised by those around me that certain descriptive words were taboo and should never be used. . . .
I imagine if you’ve made it past today’s title you are probably here because my question has evoked some type of emotional response or curiosity. . . .