oes it unto the Lord.
Be not deceived, my friends. Consecration in great things will not
atone for neglect in smaller and more trifling matters, and that only
is a perfect consecration which is real and all round in its
application. In little things and great things self is to be denied,
ignored, and God and His glory to be the one end from attaining which
the consecrated soul never swerves.
Let this be faced at the commencement, and it will save endless
controversy later on. It is because so many do not take all this in at
the beginning, that disappointments come, and very often breakdowns.
Let your consecration take in all time and circumstances, and remember
that the soul's responsibility is only limited by its opportunities.
'All for Jesus' should mean 'nothing left out'.
3. _Whole-hearted consecration is a joyous thing._ I don't know how the
delusion has become so popular that entire devotion to the service of
God means melancholy and sadness, and irksome duties and burdens. It
may have only come by a roundabout road, but it is a doctrine of the
Devil, who is a liar from the beginning, and the fully consecrated soul
hurls the lie back to its father, proclaiming, with a heart full of
gladness, 'I delight to do Thy will, my God'; 'My meat and my drink is
to do the will of my Father', and 'His fruit is sweet to my taste'.
Singleness of purpose and simplicity of intention soon clear discontent
and unhappiness out of a man's heart. When the soul has cut loose from
all self-considerations, and has put an end to such wretched questions
as, 'Will it pay to follow the Master?' or such thoughts as, 'If I give
myself fully to God, perhaps I shall have to suffer the loss of many
things I hold dear; people will be down upon me, and chaff me, and,
perhaps, persecute me; and, besides, I really do want to make a little
money for myself and my family, and I must not be righteous over-much';
when, I say, men or women have cast aside all such thoughts, and come
to the determination to live for God and for God alone, then indeed are
they freed from many things which cause sadness and bitterness. It is
the double-minded who are strangers to true lasting joy and peace.
The great sorrows of most lives spring from disappointed ambitions,
covetousness, or from love of praise, fear of man, or similar things;
but when this life of selfishness is crucified, and a man is alive only
unto God, none can deprive him of that which he most
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