Dear Fellow Believers,

Yesterday a young fellow came to see me for a very singular purpose: “I want to be whole-hearted for the Lord,” said he. He had found half-way living and a timid witness were all in vain. Our God is a God of the whole-hearted. Either turn hot or cold, He asks.

Some would reason that since we may not arrive at sinless perfection, we therefore can safely aim at a certain level of imperfection. To purpose less than the whole will of God would be rebellion.

A more cheerful note: every obligation God lays upon us is always preceded by an adequate provision of grace, God’s merciful enablement. Study Romans 6: 14. God’s arrangement with us now is one of grace wherein He commits Himself to supply enabling strength. In the light of this, we need not sink into a particular sin-defeat and cry, “I can’t!” Jesus Christ frees us and supplies us to the point where we see that our defeats arise more from “I won’t!” rather then “I can’t!”

Recently, I dealt with a man who had bright flowers in his life’s window box. But upon opening the front door, I saw the discouragement of one who had dropped the shield of faith. The fiery darts were really getting through to him. (Study Ephesians 6:10 and following.) It was an old story. He had been dabbling in sin, trying to repent and slipping back again. Worse than the six ounces of sin he had on his heart was the 10 pounds of discouragement- mud he was carrying.

How crafty our enemy! He presses us toward one extreme or the other: One fellow continues presumptuously in sin, while he coolly banks on eternal security and argues the point that there is, after all, no sinless perfection. Then, another fellow catches a glimpse of the so-called victorious life and decides to face up to his sins, but his earnest spirit is burdened and broken by the inventory he is driven to take. His very honesty regarding sin gives a grand opportunity to the devil.

The first fellow is the hardest to help. He is in rebellion and even a seminary degree won’t help! Read Ephesians 5:3-7. The second fellow’s discouragement is leading him to drop the shield of faith. Likely, he is accepting evil spirit accusation as if it were Holy Spirit conviction. Study Revelation 12:10 and 11. The secret, inner testimony of our hearts must be to the sufficiency of God’s grace, not to our misery and failure. This must be declared boldly in prayer and held onto in faith. I John 1:7; 3:8; Colossians 1:12-14; 2:9,10. I call these texts “battle verses” and use their actual phrases repeatedly in prayer. Here are the right weapons for this kind of warfare, 2 Corinthians 10:3-5.

Now allow one other word of exhortation. In all the stress to get there and hear what the lost and alienated are trying to say to us and in all the effort to identify and get involved, don’t lose the ball in the high grass.  Mark 16:15 does not read, “Go ye into all the world, and listen.” Nor does 2 Corinthians 6:17-7:1 read “Be ye identified with them.”

In straining the last vitamin out of the sawdust, don’t forget your Wheaties! Like a grad student, who has caught the view of Christ as head of a living, spiritually structured fellowship (the church!), said, “I’m getting buried in the fruit. There are so many who are open to be ministered unto!” One of his groups is mostly Roman Catholic, another largely servicemen. In addition, I am encouraging him to train another to minister along with him. (Incidentally, he was himself converted by personal, direct, very “un-mod” witnessing while he was a sophisticated agnostic and then he was edified on an individual basis.) Well, thank God His plans are so alive and effective today!