But when the young man heard that sayings he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
Matt. xix. 22.

WE too, in our own way, have often a quiet impression that we are keeping all the commandments sufficiently, and inheriting the eternal life. One day a tremendous duty opens before us, and we are aghast at its hardness. What shall we do? What shall we answer? Is Christ deserving of everything from us, or only of part? It is a tremendous test which all cannot stand.
Anthony W. Thorold.

A great necessity is a great opportunity. Nothing is really lost by a life of sacrifice; everything is lost by failure to obey God’s call. The opportunities of generously serving Jesus Christ are few; perhaps not more than one in a lifetime. They come, they do not return. What we do upon a great occasion will probably depend upon what we already are; what we are will be the result of previous years of self-discipline under the grace of Christ, or of the absence of it.
Henry Parry Liddon.

Things are not to be done by the effort of the moment, but by the preparation of past moments.
Richard Cecil.