Will I Have to Give This Up?
Will I Have to Give This Up?—There are many who desire to be Christians, simply because they fear the consequences of not being one. Some of these put the question in this way: If I join the church, will I have to give up dancing? If I become a Christian, will I have to give up this or that or the other amusement or pursuit? We do not know what answers professed ministers of Christ give to this; we do know that many church members attend theaters, dance, and play cards. We do know also that Christ requires us to give up all,—all pursuits, pleasures, ambitions, purposes, except the one all-absorbing pursuit, ambition, purpose, pleasure of serving him. He who has not done this is not Christ's disciple, for he says: "If any man come to me, and hate not [love not less] his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." "Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh [renounceth] not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple." Luke 14: 26, 33. Christ cannot be all in all to him whose heart is divided, and he who knows Christ will desire nothing which is not of Christ.