2 Samuel 2:29

"Handfuls of Purpose"

For All Gleaners

"And Abner and his men walked all that night through the plain." 2 Samuel 2:29 .

We should remind ourselves of such events in order that we may see what has been accomplished by military discipline, by the subordination of merely personal whims and desires. Even conquerors have no easy time in life. We think of success, of triumph, of coronation, but we forget that before these things, and as necessary to them, there must be discipline, suffering, loss, trial of every kind. We read with glowing hearts the accounts of explorers, discoverers, adventurers, who have gone into regions unknown and undreamedof; and here, again, we forget the night watchings, the night marchings, the continual perils and difficulties of the road. The Apostle Paul makes use of all this aspect of discipline, saying, "They do it to obtain a corruptible crown," and his argument is that if men will do so much for a crown that must fade, what ought they to do who are struggling for a crown eternal? If men are so anxious to win the prizes of earth, what ought they to be to win the infinitely greater prizes of heaven? Self-denial is not confined to Christian experience. Whoever would be great in any department or relation of life must know the pain of self-mortification must, in other words, achieve the mastery over himself must, so to say, stand upon himself in an attitude of triumph. We cannot dream ourselves into heaven, nor can we dream ourselves into any form of greatness that is really worthy of realisation. Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, into life of every kind, of eminence, of usefulness, of truest pleasure, and most lasting renown.