If this love of Christ, so magnanimous in its motive and so self-sacrificing in its execution, is an active force in the believer’s heart, how unnecessary…any command to practice giving ought to be. What, without that love, might seem a cold moral duty has been transformed by it into a joyous privilege.
Taken from The Second Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians by R.V.G. Tasker, Copyright © 1958 by Tyndale, p. 116. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.
Only a morbid fanatic can take pleasure in the sufferings he inflicts upon himself; only an insensitive fool can take pleasure in the sufferings that are the consequences of his folly; and only a convinced Christian can take pleasure in sufferings endured “for Christ’s sake,” for he alone has been initiated into the divine secret, that it is only when he is “weak,” having thrown himself unreservedly in penitence and humility upon the never-failing mercies of God, that he is “strong,” with a strength not his own, but belonging to the Lord of all power and might.
Christianity is essentially a life to be lived.
The General Epistle of James, Eerdmans, 1957, p. 51, www.eerdmans.com.
Human nature is indeed in the grip of an overwhelming army of occupation. Its natural aim, it can truthfully be said, is pleasure; and when we consider the amount of time, energy, money, interest and enthusiasm that men and women give to the satisfaction of this aim we can appreciate the accuracy of James’ diagnosis; and Christians can use it as a reliable yard stick by which to measure the sincerity of their religion. Is God or pleasure the dominant concern of their life?