We have a tendency to drift, that is human nature. We have a tendency to slacken towards the end of the race. We have a tendency to grow in confidence. ‘I have stood as a Christian; I can do it easily.’ We have a tendency to fear God a little less than we used to.
There is a battle to hold fast. Sometimes a young man is given a job. The first year he does it, it is tremendous. He is very thorough, very diligent, very anxious to get it right, somewhat fearful he may get it wrong. In the second year he is a little less diligence, he does it with a little less application, with more confidence, with less fear of the job going wrong, the standard going down. The third or fourth year it is a mess. It is the same person, the same ability, the same nice personality. It a human tendency that the diligence sags, and the confidence grows. It is how it is in the Christian life too. Hold fast, examine your hearts, keep the standard up. Know yourself, we have a tendency to relax and let things go, and then we shall be conquerors if we throughout life hold fast till I come, either for you individually or for the return of the Lord.