Psalms
119:30-31
I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I set your rules
before me. 31 I cling to your testimonies, O LORD; let
me not be put to shame!
ESV
The important thing about a man is not where he goes
when he is compelled to go, but where he goes when he
is free to go where he will....
A man is absent from church Sunday morning. Where is
he? If he is in a hospital having his appendix removed
his absence tells us nothing about him except that he
is ill; but if he is out on the golf course, that tells
us a lot. To go to the hospital is compulsory; to go to
the golf course, voluntary. The man is free to choose
and he chooses to play instead of to pray. His choice
reveals what kind of man he is. Choices always do....
I think it might be well for us to check our spiritual
condition occasionally by the simple test of compatibility.
When we are free to go, where do we go? In what company
do we feel most at home? Where do our thoughts turn when
they are free to turn where they will? When the pressure
of work or business or school has temporarily lifted and
we are able to think of what we will instead of what we
must, what do we think of then?
The answer to these questions may tell us more about
ourselves than we can comfortably accept. But we had better
face up to things. We haven't too much time at the most.
AW Tozer, Man: The Dwelling Place of God, 158-161.