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{The Application
Application for the Ungodly
Make Your Choice}
Put your hearts to it to turn either to the right hand or to the left. Lay both parts before you with every consequence of each: Christ with His yoke, His cross, and His crown; or the devil with his wealth,219 his pleasure, and his curse. And then put it to yourselves: Soul, you see what is before you; which will you do? Which do you want, the crown or the curse? If you choose the crown, remember that the day you take this, you must be content to submit to the cross, yoke, service, and sufferings of Christ that are linked to it. What do you say? Would you rather take the gains and pleasures of sin and venture on the curse, or will you yield yourself a servant to Christ and so make sure of the crown?
If your hearts fly off and would like to dismiss the business and leave it undetermined, leave them not so. If you are unresolved, you are actually resolved; if you remain uncommitted to Christ, you are committed to the devil. Therefore, do not give up, but follow your hearts from day to day and do not let them rest until the matter is brought to a resolution. And see that you make a good choice.
This is your choosing the good part: choosing God and your blessedness in the world to come as your portion and happiness. And this is included: renouncing the world and a worldly happiness.
219Let not the reader forget that temporal wealth often vanishes even in this life.
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