Sabine Baring-Gould

“ Are we likely to win our wage, Eternal Life, if we do not work zealously, but waste the time of work in half-hearted trifling with our task?
No, we must be in earnest. We want zeal. How are we to acquire this? This is what the Holy Ghost gives. Before Pentecost the disciples were half-hearted, and when temptation and trial came, they fell away and did not follow their Master. But after the Holy Ghost came down, then they were of one heart and mind, and their souls were inflamed with zeal, they cared nothing what became of them, so long as they won the Kingdom of Heaven. ”

“ It is just so with us, we are ready to do something of God's work, to seek a little the Kingdom of Heaven, but we do not put our heart in that work, all our heart and zeal is reserved for our own worldly affairs and our temporal interests.
One day a heathen maiden came to the princess Pulcheria, sister of the Emperor Theodosius, to complain to her that she was an orphan, and that her two brothers had turned her out of the house on her father's death, and had taken all his inheritance to themselves. ”

“ II. Now, this is not a satisfactory condition to be in. "The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by storm," said our Lord, and He meant that if Heaven is to be won, it must be won by those who are in earnest, and vehement in their desire to get it. Half-hearted soldiers are not good soldiers. Half-hearted servants are poor servants, half-hearted workers are unsatisfactory workers, and the battle we have to fight is a hard one, it is a battle against flesh and blood, against Satan and all his host, against the world, and against our own wills. ”

“ If we had an acquaintance who, we thought, could put us into a good way of making our fortune, we would be always at his heels, but we are cold and careless about seeking God in His house, and in prayer, and yet our eternal welfare depends on our retaining His favour. ”

“ Anything that concerns our earthly welfare fills us with excitement, but we trouble ourselves very little about our spiritual concerns. If we have a chance of getting 50 pounds a-year, we are full of delight, but we receive the precious gift of God without even gratefulness. ”

“ Then he carefully covers it up again with stones and earth, and goes off in the greatest excitement to the owner of the field, and offers him a price, and when that is refused he sells his house, and garden, and everything he can turn into money, and gives that to the owner in exchange for the field. ”