It is not persecution that the people of God find now, but a slippery day—a day in which it is difficult to keep the feet. The hot blast of persecution is not so dangerous as the clear frost which, after a shower of rain, makes the ground slippery as glass. And that is the character of the day in which we live. Little snares of Satan are on every side, the feet slip and slide, and you get discouraged. But why?
God says, “Is not eternal life yours? Have I not Myself pledged that it is? If you fail, Christ will not fail. If you slip, get up again and go on. You have eternal life in Him.”
Is it possible that your heart is discouraged and drooping when Christ in heaven is yours? Or are you drooping because you are going through the stormy sea and cannot steer? Take hold of that precious promise (the promise of eternal life—John 10:2828And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. (John 10:28); 1 John 2:2525And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life. (1 John 2:25)) and never let it go.
And when others are discouraged, saying, “We cannot go on; we see no way whatever to turn,” you bring them that word and see the effect.
The eternal life pledged to me is in the Son. That is what I have got and that eternal life entirely changes death and the grave for the believer. I have a life which is altogether new, a life born of incorruptible seed, which nothing has power to corrupt. It is not only like pure water, gushing out of a rock, but water of such purity and brightness that you can neither color nor corrupt it.
But let us ask ourselves, “Has this eternal life been marking the life we are leading?” Today, for instance, have we been passing with it through every duty? A saint has no business to do anything unless he can recognize Christ in it. If today you have been living a life in the flesh, indulging its lusts, wishing for this thing and that, you have not been walking as one who possesses the eternal life.
You may be called to pass through a stronger trial of principle than any you have yet had. Suppose you were in prison, with none to love you, to comfort you, left there all alone. But if it be so, there is the eternal life.
I have to walk on earth as one who possesses it, and if so, have I to care what my circumstances may be? Sorrow, and nothing but sorrow, there may be for a time—but if I have the eternal life, I am soon to be up and above it all.
G. V. Wigram