octolilly [through the years]

When Satan certainly wants to see my downfall, it is doubtful that I was experiencing direct attacks from the Evil One; I was more likely experiencing the true strength of my sinful heart whose power was not fully known to me until I resisted it.

Incidentally, this phenomenon (whereby the actual extent of indwelling sin’s pull is unknown to us until we begin doing right) is very much like the experience of one who is rowing a canoe. As long as he is going with the current, he has no idea how strong the current really is. Only when he decides to turn his canoe around and start rowing against the current does he experience its true strength.

A believer who has been giving in to the pull of his sinful heart never learns the extent of its power over him. When he decides to “row upstream,” however, he meets the “current” of indwelling sin full force. He quickly realizes that life lived against his sinful bent is not only difficult- it is impossible. He must learn how desperately he needs God.

– Jim Berg, Changed into His Image

Rouse thee, O believer, from thy low condition! Cast away thy sloth, thy lethargy, thy coldness, or whatever interferes with thy chaste and pure love to Christ. Make Him the source, the center, and the circumference of all thy soul’s range of delight. Rest no longer satisfied with thy dwarfish attainments. Aspire to a higher, a nobler, a fuller life. Upward to heaven! Nearer to God!

– Spurgeon