Monday, November 9, 2015

Giving Up on the Noble Things

On page 573, Mill explains, “It may be further objected, that many who begin with youthful enthusiasm for everything noble, as they advance in years sink into indolence and selfishness.” A little later on he says, “Capacity for the nobler feelings is in most natures a very tender plant, easily killed, not only by hostile influences, but by mere want of substance…” So many times I will start to do something I think is “noble” and pleasurable to myself and others, but as time goes on, I get distracted and discouraged from doing it. I start to lose track of what I was doing and why I was doing it in the first place. I soon give in to the lesser pleasures of life. I tend to give up or start to follow a different path. After reading these quotes and thinking about my own failures, I was reminded of these two verses:

“Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” – 1 Timothy 6:12

“I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” - Philippians 3:14
We should not give up every time we fail, but remind ourselves that there is grace for our failures and that we should get back up and press on.
I commented on Briana Batdorf's post.

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