| Back | Contents | Next |
{The Application
Application for the Godly
Directions for Carrying On a Constant Holy Course of Life
Put Yourselves in Upright Condition
Do Not Live in Neglect of Any Known Duty}
The devil may be served not only by your doing evil, but by your doing nothing. We obey the will of the flesh when we neglect doing something God commands (as opposed to doing something He forbids). Committing sin stabs our souls and omitting duties328 starves our souls. God will not tolerate and our souls cannot tolerate a missing duty. Lameness in our practice will quickly appear as leanness in our souls.
Omissions will be counted for judgment and therefore must be counted and repented of now. Do not content yourselves with a negative holiness in that you do no harm. Do not think it is enough to be able to say that you know of no hurt that you have done. Imagine that you have actually done no harm; you are still not justified. God will judge you, and may condemn you, for what you have not done. If you had nothing for which to answer but your neglects, the neglects of a day or an hour will undo you forever if you do not have Christ to answer for you. To be holy is more than to be innocent; you must be doing your duty as well as departing from iniquity. “Cease to do evil, learn to do good” (Isaiah 1:16–17).
Nor is it a little now and then that will serve. Well-doing must be continual. There must be continual readiness for every good work, fruitfulness in good works, and faithfulness in good works. “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21). It is a faithful servant who has done his best, has not voluntarily neglected any of his master’s work, and has not wasted any of his master’s talents. He is able to say that, “Though I have not done what I ought, yet I have endeavored to do what I can.” Every neglect is a degree of unfaithfulness. If you wish to be servants of Christ, be faithful servants. That you may be faithful servants, heed these things:
First, do not neglect any kind of duty. One missing thing may cause the loss of all. It may be that you hear sermons, but do not pray. You may pray in secret, but not in your families. You may instruct your families, but do not govern them. You may love the saints and are just in your dealings, but not charitable. You may give alms to a hungry body, but not give counsel to a sinful soul. You may give counsel, but not reproof. So, there may be a duty to which you cannot yet bring your heart. But take heed that, although you cannot yet bring your heart to it, do not neglect to be working to bring your heart to it. Be persuading, reasoning, and praying your heart to it. Take heed that you do not simply indulge in this neglect and say, “The Lord pardon me in this thing” (2 Kings 5:18). Do not give up and let it alone.
Second, do not neglect any opportunity of duty. Whenever the Lord calls to duty, let your heart answer. Whenever the Lord opens a door for any service, take the season.
Third, be watchful and observe every opportunity. Sometimes the Lord puts your enemy into your hand, giving you some special advantage against a lust or corruption. Sometimes the Lord puts resources in your hand, an opportunity for grace, an opportunity to lay up for your soul, an opportunity to do good for God or your soul. Diligently observe all such seasonable opportunities. You may do or get more in such an hour than in many days at later times.
Fourth, keep your heart disposed toward duty. Always be prepared for every good work. See to it that, even if sometimes you lack the ability for a duty, your will to do it is always present. When the opportunity is put into your hand, see to it that you do not lack a heart for it. When your enemy [some sin] is in your hand, do not let your heart spare it. Do not let your heart be unavailable when the time is right. Do not let your heart rebuke you afterward: “Oh, what an opportunity I have lost. How much seed might I have sown today for eternity? What a treasure I might have laid up for everlasting!”
Fifth, above all, take heed that you do not live a life of neglect of duty. The most diligent and vigilant Christians have too many neglects. But see to it that you are not habitually guilty of any neglect. Be sure that there is not something that you know to be your duty, but that you commonly pass over it as a matter of course. This day is the same as yesterday, tomorrow, next week, and so on, still in neglect of the duty. Whatever it may be that you do perform, such neglect will unavoidably hinder your soul from thriving in the grace of God. Such neglect has ill effects:
First, the guilt of such neglect will wither and mar the beauty of those works you do perform. The Lord will have such a standing controversy with you for what is not done that He will not accept or prosper the work you do perform.
Second, the beneficial influence of the neglected duties will be lacking. If we lack any duty, we may afterwards find the effects of its lack in the state of our souls. Grace out of exercise decays. And if one of your spiritual members suffers or wastes away, the whole soul suffers with it.
Third, the devil will fill up the vacancies in our lives. There is not an empty place in your garden where the devil is not sowing his seed. If you leave a vacancy, the devil will not leave an empty day or even an empty hour of your lives. If grace does not fill up each day with its duties, the devil will fill it up with sin. It will be a hundred to one that a weed will grow up where a flower is missing.
Brethren, if you want to be thriving Christians, be universal Christians for any work your Master has for you to do. With childlike openness, be honorable Christians, willing to know your whole duty. Be watchful Christians so that you may embrace opportune duties. And then be faithful, allow yourselves no neglect, and be impatient with yourselves under any neglect.
328The omission of a duty is an example of what theologians term a sin of omission. Doing that which is forbidden is termed a sin of commission. Both are truly and equally sin.
| Back | Contents | Next |