Neglecting the Great Salvation.
By Barnes
Most of the calamities of life are caused by simple neglect. By neglect of education children grow up in ignorance. By neglect a farm grows up to weeds and briars; by neglect a house goes to decay; by neglect a sowing man will have no harvest; by neglect of reaping the harvest will rot in the field. No worldly interest can prosper where there is neglect; and why may it not be so in religion? There is nothing in earthly affairs that is valuable that will not be ruined if it is not attended to, and why may it not be so with the concerns of the soul? Let no one infer, therefore, that because he is not a drunkard, or an adulterer, or a murderer, he will be saved. Such an inference would be as irrational as it would be for a man to infer that because he is not a murderer his farm will produce a harvest, or that because he is not an adulterer therefore his merchandise will take care of itself. Salvation would be worth nothing if it cost no effort—and there will be no salvation where no effort is put forth.—Barnes.