Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?
To run well is to obey the truth and follow God faithfully for a time, making good progress and learning by experience that He is good, and to be hindered is to turn aside out of the way and cease obeying, apostatizing from God to walk in darkness after yielding to sin. At its fullest, running well means bearing the gospel armor with dignity and grace while heart and mind stay subject to the divine will and the eye stays fixed on Jesus as the source and finisher of faith, which brings prosperity in holiness. Hindrance comes when the eye is diverted from Jesus to unworthy objects, through worldly pride and pleasures and companions, ambition and love of being first and of money, willful self-seeking that wants its own way, and entangling attachments and unwise marriages that let self and carnal reason overbear wise judgment. To keep running well is to stay united with Christ the center and so united with the brethren, with the heart renewed by the Holy Spirit, the flesh with its affections and lusts crucified, and the fruit of the Spirit — love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance — appearing by walking in the Spirit, restoring the erring in meekness and bearing one another's burdens. Beginning well for a season does not secure the end, so steadfast, patient, well-balanced continuance in well-doing is necessary, yet the Lord looks on the backslidden with pitiful tenderness and calls him now to return that He may return and heal him, and those who after walking in darkness confess their sins must trust Him to keep His promise and forgive.
Running Well and Hindered
To run well is to obey the truth and follow God faithfully for a time, making good progress in the Christian life. One who runs well for a season has tasted by experience that the Lord is good. At its fullest, running well is to bear the gospel armor with dignity and grace, while heart and mind remain subject to the divine will and the eye remains fixed on Jesus, and this brings prosperity in holiness.
To be hindered is to cease obeying the truth after running well for a while. It is to turn aside out of the way and apostatize from God. After yielding to sin, the one hindered turns from the truth and walks in darkness.
Being hindered means no longer looking to Jesus as the source and finisher of faith. The eye is diverted from Him to unworthy objects. Then self asserts sway, and one is no longer a doer of His word and no longer lives His prayer for oneness with the brethren.
What Hinders Obedience
Running well for a time can be hindered when surroundings change and worldly companions draw the heart away, as worldly pride and pleasures of peers pull one from God. Temptation may surround a person, but surrounding temptation never makes yielding to it necessary. Ambition also hinders, when love of being first, flattery, and the power that money gives overcome one who ran well for a season and stop him from continuing as a messenger of light. Restlessness under difficulty hinders when temptation takes a new form and desire for human honor, advantage, or a higher position leads away from the truth, so that in seeking to be exalted one ends in shame and becomes a slave to the one who ruins.
Willful self-seeking hinders by turning out of the way and apostatizing from God, saying in effect I want not Thy way but my own way, planning and devising for self while leaving the only safe Counsellor out of the reckoning and placing oneself in the enemy's ranks. Connection with the world hinders through indulging selfish inclinations rooted in worldliness, which separates from God and leads farther and farther from the light. That hindering work is refusing to love the light given through appointed agencies, hating both the message and the messenger, and making strenuous efforts to pervert the understanding of ministers so that the voice that would reprove evil is intimidated and silenced. Continuing in this course adds sin to sin and joins Satan's work, with an obstinacy like fruit borne on a corrupt tree.
Entangling attachments hinder when Satan weaves his meshes by the most successful allure from holiness, unwise attachments and poor marriages that divert the eye from Jesus to unworthy objects. Then self asserts sway and carnal reason overbears wise judgment and integrity, the Christian armor is counted too heavy for youth and fit only for old experienced soldiers, and the tempter's suggestions produce inconstancy and vacillation in the Christian course. Faultfinding hinders when yielding to the temptation to find fault with brethren replaces looking unto Jesus, so that one is no longer a doer of His word and no longer lives His prayer for oneness with the brethren. Unsubdued traits hinder when questioning or obstruction of the course reveals wrong traits that remain because they were never brought wholly under the influence of the Spirit.
Bad example hinders when those who take crooked paths lead the weak away from the right way, so that even people striving for Christian perfection may fall over a stumbling block and be found wanting. Inaction hinders when one who was once growing and making good progress in the Christian life stops improving and fails to continue.
Continuing Well and Returning
Hindrance comes when love is lost from the heart through separation from Christ, and that loss shows itself in division, contention, prejudice, vain glory, and in provoking and envying among brethren. To keep running well is to be united with Christ the center and so to be united with brethren. That union requires the heart renewed by the Holy Spirit, the flesh with its affections and lusts crucified, and the fruit of the Spirit — love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance — appearing in the life. It is lived by walking in the Spirit, by restoring one overtaken in fault in meekness, by bearing one another's burdens to fulfill the law of Christ, and by giving enemies no occasion through differences.
Beginning well for a season does not secure the end, so steadfast adherence to purpose is necessary to finish the work. This calls for calm, well-balanced, thorough action that wisely improves all God-given talents and guards against hurried activity that accomplishes nothing. It means doing the right work at its proper time in secular and religious things, refusing to fritter time on trifles and then fail in undertakings of real account, doing one thing at a time with order and regularity, and leaving nothing half finished. It is continuing patiently in well-doing in constant reliance on the Saviour for wisdom, courage, and strength of purpose.
The Lord looks on one hindered by backsliding with pitiful tenderness and loves him not because he is righteous but because his soul is precious and too precious to be lost. He cannot prosper him in that state because it would prove his eternal ruin. He calls him now to return so He may return to him and heal his backsliding. After yielding and walking in darkness, those who confess their sins must trust God to keep His promise and forgive them.
To run well is to obey the truth and follow God faithfully for a time, making good progress and learning by experience that He is good, and to be hindered is to turn aside out of the way and cease obeying, apostatizing from God to walk in darkness after yielding to sin. At its fullest, running well means bearing the gospel armor with dignity and grace while heart and mind stay subject to the divine will and the eye stays fixed on Jesus as the source and finisher of faith, which brings prosperity in holiness. Hindrance comes when the eye is diverted from Jesus to unworthy objects, through worldly pride and pleasures and companions, ambition and love of being first and of money, willful self-seeking that wants its own way, and entangling attachments and unwise marriages that let self and carnal reason overbear wise judgment. To keep running well is to stay united with Christ the center and so united with the brethren, with the heart renewed by the Holy Spirit, the flesh with its affections and lusts crucified, and the fruit of the Spirit — love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance — appearing by walking in the Spirit, restoring the erring in meekness and bearing one another's burdens. Beginning well for a season does not secure the end, so steadfast, patient, well-balanced continuance in well-doing is necessary, yet the Lord looks on the backslidden with pitiful tenderness and calls him now to return that He may return and heal him, and those who after walking in darkness confess their sins must trust Him to keep His promise and forgive.
Running Well and Hindered
To run well is to obey the truth and follow God faithfully for a time, making good progress in the Christian life. One who runs well for a season has tasted by experience that the Lord is good. At its fullest, running well is to bear the gospel armor with dignity and grace, while heart and mind remain subject to the divine will and the eye remains fixed on Jesus, and this brings prosperity in holiness.
To be hindered is to cease obeying the truth after running well for a while. It is to turn aside out of the way and apostatize from God. After yielding to sin, the one hindered turns from the truth and walks in darkness.
Being hindered means no longer looking to Jesus as the source and finisher of faith. The eye is diverted from Him to unworthy objects. Then self asserts sway, and one is no longer a doer of His word and no longer lives His prayer for oneness with the brethren.
What Hinders Obedience
Running well for a time can be hindered when surroundings change and worldly companions draw the heart away, as worldly pride and pleasures of peers pull one from God. Temptation may surround a person, but surrounding temptation never makes yielding to it necessary. Ambition also hinders, when love of being first, flattery, and the power that money gives overcome one who ran well for a season and stop him from continuing as a messenger of light. Restlessness under difficulty hinders when temptation takes a new form and desire for human honor, advantage, or a higher position leads away from the truth, so that in seeking to be exalted one ends in shame and becomes a slave to the one who ruins.
Willful self-seeking hinders by turning out of the way and apostatizing from God, saying in effect I want not Thy way but my own way, planning and devising for self while leaving the only safe Counsellor out of the reckoning and placing oneself in the enemy's ranks. Connection with the world hinders through indulging selfish inclinations rooted in worldliness, which separates from God and leads farther and farther from the light. That hindering work is refusing to love the light given through appointed agencies, hating both the message and the messenger, and making strenuous efforts to pervert the understanding of ministers so that the voice that would reprove evil is intimidated and silenced. Continuing in this course adds sin to sin and joins Satan's work, with an obstinacy like fruit borne on a corrupt tree.
Entangling attachments hinder when Satan weaves his meshes by the most successful allure from holiness, unwise attachments and poor marriages that divert the eye from Jesus to unworthy objects. Then self asserts sway and carnal reason overbears wise judgment and integrity, the Christian armor is counted too heavy for youth and fit only for old experienced soldiers, and the tempter's suggestions produce inconstancy and vacillation in the Christian course. Faultfinding hinders when yielding to the temptation to find fault with brethren replaces looking unto Jesus, so that one is no longer a doer of His word and no longer lives His prayer for oneness with the brethren. Unsubdued traits hinder when questioning or obstruction of the course reveals wrong traits that remain because they were never brought wholly under the influence of the Spirit.
Bad example hinders when those who take crooked paths lead the weak away from the right way, so that even people striving for Christian perfection may fall over a stumbling block and be found wanting. Inaction hinders when one who was once growing and making good progress in the Christian life stops improving and fails to continue.
Continuing Well and Returning
Hindrance comes when love is lost from the heart through separation from Christ, and that loss shows itself in division, contention, prejudice, vain glory, and in provoking and envying among brethren. To keep running well is to be united with Christ the center and so to be united with brethren. That union requires the heart renewed by the Holy Spirit, the flesh with its affections and lusts crucified, and the fruit of the Spirit — love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance — appearing in the life. It is lived by walking in the Spirit, by restoring one overtaken in fault in meekness, by bearing one another's burdens to fulfill the law of Christ, and by giving enemies no occasion through differences.
Beginning well for a season does not secure the end, so steadfast adherence to purpose is necessary to finish the work. This calls for calm, well-balanced, thorough action that wisely improves all God-given talents and guards against hurried activity that accomplishes nothing. It means doing the right work at its proper time in secular and religious things, refusing to fritter time on trifles and then fail in undertakings of real account, doing one thing at a time with order and regularity, and leaving nothing half finished. It is continuing patiently in well-doing in constant reliance on the Saviour for wisdom, courage, and strength of purpose.
The Lord looks on one hindered by backsliding with pitiful tenderness and loves him not because he is righteous but because his soul is precious and too precious to be lost. He cannot prosper him in that state because it would prove his eternal ruin. He calls him now to return so He may return to him and heal his backsliding. After yielding and walking in darkness, those who confess their sins must trust God to keep His promise and forgive them.