Second-class principles, it has been said, make second-class men; land when a second-class man has to meet a first-class test, he goes down. The only principle that will abide all tests is whole-hearted, whole-souled [44] devotion to Christ. He who puts not Christ above father, mother, home, possessions, above self and all self-will and desire, will end either like the man who began to build with insufficient funds, or like him that went out with ten thousand to meet another coming against him with twenty thousand; either he is not able to finish what he began, and simply gives up; or else he will make compromise with the world, the flesh, and the devil, whose overwhelming force and influence he is not able to face. (Luke 14:25-33.) Settle it, therefore, in your heart, as a principle irrevocable, that at all costs Jesus Christ shall be the controlling power of your life.

[TAG 44-45]