THE STRENUOUS LIFE by L. A. S.

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 22, 1901

THE STRENUOUS LIFE.

By L. A. S.

It is generally admitted that the life of a successful business man must be a strenuous one. The person who would win success in this world must be earnest, energetic, courageous, and persevering. He must meet and conquer difficulties. There must be no settling down in ease and drifting with the tide. He must not depend upon some good fortune that he hopes may come to-morrow or next year, or expect some power to bear him on toward prosperity independently of his own endeavors. He must expect to pass through critical periods, and at such times he must persevere and not lose hope when everything looks dark. He must be willing to fight battles and endure disappointment, with a firm confidence that success will be the ultimate reward of his faithfulness.

It is ordained, and properly so, that success in life must be attained in this way; and there is something in the healthy, unperverted nature that responds to this fact. It is the way in which the man of energy and courage prefers to win success. Ask President Roosevelt, who has had much to say about the strenuous life, if he would prefer that the successful life should needs be less strenuous than is now the case, and he would promptly answer in the negative. The strenuous life is the best life, and the only life that could be rewarded with full success without perverting the foundation principles of right, and hopelessly demoralizing human character. The strenuous life is the life that is chosen and glorified in by all right-thinking and right-seeing men.

But how about the Christian life? Must this also be strenuous? Is success in this conditioned upon the same exercise of energy, courage, and perseverance? Ah, here men have assumed to find an exception to the general rule. One need not make the Christian life so strenuous as the earthly, business life, we are told. The new theology assures us that religious affairs are governed by the law of evolution, which is slowly but surely lifting the world up to a higher level of existence. Man is being carried on to his ultimate destiny by this slow but resistless current,—so slow that the lapse of ages may be required for the accomplishment of any radical change in the process of development toward a higher life. He has eons of time before him in which to change his evil character into a good one; hence he has no occasion for haste or to feel at any time that he has reached a crisis when much depends upon the outcome of a week, or a day, or of a single hour. Thus, according to the current theology of the day, success in the Christian life is not at all dependent on the conditions and circumstances which make life a success or a failure in the secular world.

But what saith the Scripture on this subject? and what is said by the experience of those who have been eminent in the service of God? These assure us that the Christian life is pre-eminently the strenuous life; that it is a life of conflicts, calling for the constant exercise of energy, courage, and perseverance; a life in which the way is at times dark and perilous, requiring on the part of the traveler the exercise of implicit faith in God; and in which must come some critical occasions when destiny hangs upon the decisions of an hour. In the Christian life we must “strive to enter in at the strait gate,” where, we are told, many “will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.” Luke 13:24. We must seek the Lord “while He may be found,” and call upon Him “while He is near.” Isa. 55:6. We must not delay; but, “To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your heart.” Ps. 95:7. We must “exhort one another daily, while it is called To-day.” Heb. 3:13. We must take heed to ourselves and “watch and pray” (Mark 13:33) lest we be surprised by the coming of the day of the Lord, which is to come upon the world “like a thief in the night.” 1 Thess. 5:2; 2 Peter 3:10; Rev. 16:15. There is a “time of Jacob’s trouble” to be experienced (Jer. 30:7), when, like Jacob, the Christian must wrestle alone with God, and perseveringly cling to Him in faith, or be overwhelmed with despair. There are sharp conflicts to be fought, where the Christian must lay hold upon the Omnipotent by faith and prayer, and be able to say at the conclusion of the battle, “I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.” Gen. 32:30. The Christian must continually “fight the good fight of faith” (1 Tim. 6:12), and “endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” 2 Tim. 2:3. And these scriptures are fulfilled in the experience of all who are “crucified with Christ” (Gal. 2:20), and who exemplify His life on the earth.

The teaching of the new theology, with its doctrine of salvation by evolution, is a lie. Almost the whole world are accepting it as truth, but it is a lie nevertheless. In Christianity, as in secular affairs, it is the strenuous life alone that brings success. Anything less than this will result in failure, and failure in the Christian life means a failure that is eternal. Why will not men be willing to struggle for success in that which determines their destiny, as they struggle for success in merely temporal affairs? Why will they depend upon the miserable doctrine of evolution, which they would not for a moment allow to shape their business affairs, to solve the awful question of their eternal happiness or their perdition? Professing themselves to be wise, men have become fools, and by their folly will stand convicted and without excuse in the day of God.

L. A. S.