Testimonies for the Church, Volume 2 - Ellen G. White

Brother F, you do not honor your profession.
Your zeal is a worldly zeal, your interest a worldly
interest. You are dying spiritually. You understand
not your perilous condition. The love of the world
is swallowing up your religion. You must awake;
you must seek God and repent of your
backslidings. In contrition take words and return to
the Lord. Your religious duties have become
merely a form. You do not enjoy religion; for this
enjoyment is dependent upon willing obedience.
The willing and obedient shall eat the good of the
land. You do not possess a bright evidence that you
will dwell with God in His kingdom. You
occasionally engage in the outward performance of
religious duties, but your heart is not in the
exercise. You occasionally drop a word of warning
to sinners, or a word in favor of the truth; but it is a
reluctant service, as though rendered to a
taskmaster, instead of the cheerful service of filial
affection. If your heart is aglow with Christian
zeal, the most arduous duties will be pleasant and
easy.
Why the Christian life is so difficult to many is
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