A man is measured, not by what he can do, but by what he can do under stress of difficulty. Before anything is deemed fit or safe for important service, it must prove itself under a more than ordinary strain. "I could have done this or that if such and such a thing had not been the matter." How often we hear that kind of plea, and how little impression it makes on us all! The man that can not do good work under difficulties is of no account. For every man's life and every man's work are beset with difficulty nine-tenths of the time. All the great achievements of the world's history were triumphs over difficulty, and they would not be worth mentioning had they not been so. How can we expect the Christian life to be free from obstacles? A certain lady tried to excuse [148] herself for giving way to her temper, saying: "I never get angry unless someone provokes me." "So neither does the devil," answered a wise friend. But to resist temptation in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ; to walk upright under a burden; to be in the world, yet unspotted from the world; to hold fast under stress; to stand firm when others are falling away; to smile through tears; to hope in darkness; to keep love and faith whatever may befall--this is the life that is worthy to receive the promise "to him that overcometh."

[TAG 148-149]