Dear Sovereign Redeemer and other friends,

In his book “Old Paths,” J.C. Ryle describes three ways a person can ruin his or her soul, this being the third:

“For another thing, you may starve your soul to death by trifling and indecision… Indecision is just as ruinous to the soul as a false religion or no religion at all. The stream of life can never stand still. Whether you are sleeping or waking, you are floating down that stream. You are coming nearer and nearer to the rapids. You will soon pass over the falls, and, if you die without a decided faith, be cast away to all eternity.” – Chapter 2, “Our Souls!” pg 39

Indecision and trifling starves the soul, and the end of that trajectory is destruction. You don’t have to be an atheist or an infidel. It is enough to fritter life away, never really deciding or committing. As Ryle says in so many places, tomorrow is the Devil’s day! Today is the day of salvation.

By marked contrast, others glimpse the infinite value of the God who is. In his missions book “Let the Nations be Glad,” John Piper speaks of this:

“We measure the worth of a hidden treasure by what we will gladly sell to buy it. If we will sell all, then we measure the worth as supreme. If we will not, what we have is treasured more. ‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field’ (Matt. 13:44). The extent of his sacrifice and depth of his joy display the worth he puts on the treasure of God. Loss and suffering, joyfully accepted for the kingdom of God, show the supremacy of God’s worth more clearly in the world than all worship and prayer.” – Chapter 3, “The Supremacy of God in Missions through Suffering,” pg 93

May we be part of a people who have cast off indecision and trifling because of a recognition that God is of an ultimate value that makes it impossible to stand still.