A millionaire said to me, "There is no greater humbug than that money can make a man solidly happy; mine never did until I turned to God and began to use it for Him.” The more your devotion to Christ costs you the richer returns it will bring to you.
Let me say to all my readers that if it costs much to be a zealous and fruitful Christian, it will cost infinitely more to live and die an impenitent sinner. Conversion to Christ costs self-denial; sin costs self-destruction.
To be a sober man costs self-restraint, and the scoffing of fools. To be a drinker costs a ruined purse, a ruined body, and a lost soul. The sensualist pays for his vices a tremendous toll. The swearer must pay for his oaths. There is a way that seemeth pleasant to a man; sit down, my friend, and calmly make an honest reckoning. It is worth your while; your weal or woe depends upon it.
Put into one scale some hardships, self-denials, and conflicts, and at the end of them: heaven. Put into the other scale self-indulgence and a sinful life, and at the end: hell.
Weigh the two—weigh them for eternity!—and while you are watching the scales the loving Savior will whisper in your ear the solemn question, What shall it profit you to gain the whole world and lose your own soul? "What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”