6:10). Few things are more hateful in a Christian man than this; few
These are some of the forms of selfishness which destroy both growth and fruitfulness. How can a man grow when he is pampering self instead of crucifying the flesh; when he is indulging and fondling the old man instead of nailing him to the cross; when he is enjoying all softness and ease and worldly comfort, instead of enduring hardness, and taking up his cross and mortifying his members which are upon the earth? (Rom. 8:13; Gal. 5:24; Col. 3:5.)
4. Covetousness.—'The love of money is the root of all evil' (1 Tim. 6:10). Few things are more hateful in a Christian man than this; few things more completely destroy his influence; and few things more sadly or more justly make him the scorn of the world than eagerness for money, or niggardliness in parting with it. The covetous man cannot grow. He must ever remain a stunted Christian. 'Filthy lucre' is poison to the soul. If we do not 'make friends of the mammon of unrighteousness' by laying out our substance for God, it will become the blight of spirituality, the destruction of our religious life (Prov. 30:8; 1 Tim. 6:6–10). Be generous, be large-hearted, be openhanded, be loving, be free in giving, if you would grow.
5. Pride.—Self-satisfaction in any shape, or self-admiration of any kind, in regard to person, or property, or accomplishments, or position; these are immensely hurtful to spiritual life. True godliness prospers only in the lowly heart; the heart which, in proportion as it becomes more and more satisfied with Christ, becomes more and more dissatisfied with itself. If the Master was meek and lowly, shall the disciple be anything else?
6. Easy-mindedness.—To take things easy is by some reckoned a great virtue; and not to get warm or excited or zealous, is regarded as proof of a noble and well-balanced mind. We might admit this to be the case, were it confined to worldly matters. To lose a fortune, and yet to be calm, is well. To endure provocation and be unruffled is also well. But to take religion easy is not so to be commended. Easygoing religionists are strangers to the fervour of John or Paul. To be contented while uncertain of our salvation is something very awful.