Staying Faith?
Mary and Martha
Martha’s natural temper was active and busy; she loved to be here and there, and at the end of every thing; and this had been a snare to her when by it she was not only careful and cumbered about many things, but hindered from the exercises of devotion: but now in a day of affliction this active temper did her a kindness, kept the grief from her heart, and made her forward to meet Christ, and so she received comfort from him the sooner. On the other hand, Mary’s natural temper was contemplative and reserved. This had been formerly an advantage to her, when it placed her Christ’s feet, to hear his word, and enabled her there to attend upon him without those distractions with which Martha was cumbered; but now in the day of affliction that same temper proved a snare to her, made her less able to grapple with her grief, and disposed her to melancholy: But Mary sat still in the house. See here how much it will be our wisdom carefully to watch against the temptations, and improve the advantages, of our natural temper.
It is not sufficient merely to say that you trust Christ for salvation, and then to imagine there is nothing further to be done. I have often tried to expose that delusion by representing a pilot as being brought on board a vessel, and the captain and sailors saying that they all had confidence in him that he would take the ship safely into the haven. They said they trusted him, but having declared their faith in him, they all went below and lay down to sleep.
Now, of course, the pilot wanted to have the sails attended to, and the ship put in good trim, and he needed the helmsman to manage the rudder, so he called out, “What are you all doing down there? Why have you all run away from me?”
And one of them answered, “Because we trust in you. You are the pilot, and you said you would bring us safely into port. We trust in you. So the captain has gone to his cabin, and all the sailors have gone to the forecastle. You see, it is a wet night, a strong northwester is blowing, it is very cold, and we would rather be comfortable and snug in our berths than up there on deck. You said that you would bring us to the haven, and we trust in you to do it.”
The pilot would of course reply, “You do not really trust in me, for if you did, you would do as I tell you. You are mocking me; you are insulting me. You have brought me on board your ship to make a fool of me. If you really trusted me, every man would take his proper place and do his duty, and then, as I gave the word of command, it would be obeyed, and so you would be brought safely into port.”
It is just so with Christ and ourselves. We trust him entirely to save us, but we have no right to say that we are saved if we do not practically obey him.
