Discount Victories
General Dwight Eisenhower said, "There are no victories at discount
prices."
Churches and Christians win no spiritual victories at discount prices,
either.
Churches like to cut corners. Go the easy route. Play up the audience.
Cater to the common denominator.
They may gather crowds, but the victory slips through their fingers.
Another discount price is to be happy with what we've got. Don't rock
the boat. Take it long and slow. Claim nobody wants to hear the Truth
(with a capital "T").
In such places, a ten-year-old Christian is still considered a recent
convert. No victory there.
Christians, too, pursue easy victories. They zip through one-minute
devotionals. Zap lightning prayers up to heaven. Fifteen-minute sermons
tax their mental faculties. For a spiritual challenge, they read
story-time fluff. Evangelism is a smile over McDonald's counter.
The easy path started in Eden, winded its way through Isaac's tent,
swallowed complainers in the desert, left pagans in Canaan, and snaked
its way in the wilderness to lay the kingdoms of the world at Jesus'
feet.
The easy way died on a very high mountain.
"Begone, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God,
and serve Him only'" ( Matthew 4:10).
Like Jesus, send Satan packing, worship the only true and living God,
and pay the price for victory -- your life.