Our sin will be if we idolize the work of our hands; if we love it so well as not to bear to part with it. The test of our faith lies in our being able to fail without disappointment.
Resignation is a more blessed frame of mind than sanguine hope of present success because it is the truer and the more consistent with our fallen state of being and the more improving to our hearts. And resignation has been conspicuous for the most eminent servants of God. To expect great effects from our exertions for religious goals is natural indeed, and innocent, but it arises from inexperience of the kind of work we have to do -- to change the heart and will of fallen creatures. It is far nobler frame of mind to labor, not with the hope of seeing the fruit of our labor, but for conscience's sake, as a matter of duty. And in faith, trusting good will be done though we see it not.
Even the successes of the first Christian teachers, the Apostles, resignation to apparent failure is evident. After all the great works God enabled them to accomplish, they confessed before their death that what they experienced and what they saw before them were reversals and calamities, and that the fruit of their labor would not be seen till Christ came to open the books and collect his saints from the four corners of the earth.
April 03, 2004
John Henry Newman Excerpt
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