If we keep resisting the call of the gospel, the time comes when he abandons you. He gives you the house of your own life, so that we are left desolate. We are like a house left, abandoned, vandalised: a dead house. That is our sentence. Our lives, our bodies, are left to us desolate.
Maybe someone says, ‘I am not the least inclined to this’, but we all felt that at one time. We all started with this wilful resistance of him. It is easy to follow the crowd without thinking. Many years ago there was a church holiday that visited Snowdonia, and a group could be seen going up the peaks. They took proper boots and the leaders went with some trepidation, but it became seriously steep. Nevertheless, it was a big group, and the majority just tagged along; they felt safe in a crowd. So it is in spiritual matters: we go the way of the crowd. Most don’t worry about the spiritual danger; they find reassurance in their fellow travellers through life. It is not because we are strong minded, but because we are in a crowd. If only we could get away and learn to think. Find a place where you can be alone with God, and pray earnestly that he would show you your true condition. Ask him to show you how serious are the consequences of your sin, and the only remedy with is found in Jesus Christ the Saviour of the world.