COUNT THE COST by Theodore L. Cuyler

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 13, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 19.

COUNT THE COST.

By Theodore L. Cuyler

HE who would be most like Christ must pay the cost. If a furnace is needed to purify and brighten you, do not shirk the furnace. Patience is an admirable grace, but it is not oftenest worn by those who walk on the sunny side of the street in silver slippers. It is usually the product of head winds and hard fights, of crosses carried and steep hills climbed on the road to heaven. “The trial of your faith worketh patience.” So it is with all the noblest traits of a robust, healthy, and symmetrical character. No man is rocked into godliness in a hammock. Christ offers you no free ride to heaven in a cushioned parlor car. John Bunyan sent his sturdy “Pilgrim” to the “celestial city” on foot, and some pretty rough walking and hard conflicts did he encounter before the pearly portals welcomed him to the streets of flashing gold. His piety was self-denying, stalwart, and uncompromising. He relished even the stiff severities of duty, and was never coddled with confectioneries. Self-indulgence is the besetting sin of the times; but if you long to be a strong, athletic Christian, you must count the cost. It will cost you the cutting up of old favorite sins by the roots, and the cutting loose from entangling alliances, and some sharp set-tos with the tempter; it will cost you the submitting of your will to the will of Christ.—T. L. Cuyler.