Does any Christian reader imagine for a moment that when he or she shall stand before their holy Lord, that they will regret having lived “too strictly” on earth? Is there the slightest danger of His reproving any of His own because they were “too extreme” in “abstaining from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul” (1 Peter 2:11)? We may gain the good will and good works of worldly religionists today, by our compromising on “little points,” but shall we receive His smile and approval on that day? Oh to be more concerned about what He thinks, and less concerned about what perishing mortals think.
– A.W. Pink
1886 – 1952
Christ Alone Wyoming 
Reblogged this on Shattered By Grace.
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**Thank-You** for this quote….it gives me much encouragement, truly!
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Pilgrim, I too want to add my words of encouragement for posting this. Sometimes it is hard to remember that what when we serve the Lord and worship Him in spirit and in truth we will be thought of as “too strict” or “too extreme.” Sadly, the church in many cases has simply moved the goal posts to conform to what the world sees as acceptable. We look at the world and say we are not any closer than we were for we are keeping our distance from them. However, what we need to be doing is looking back the other direction and see how far we have actually moved from the Master and the cross of Calvary, both of which have never moved!
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Well said!
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I posted this on my facebook, since this really explains a lot about how I’ve been feeling lately, and have been labeled. This is the response I got:
“What if He’s the one concerned with how strict we are living today? Will He wait until that day to admonish us, letting us drown in individualism rather than a vibrant interdependence with Him and others? I’d like to think not. Legalism is found everywhere. We do not live to please people, true. But we are a whole body nonetheless. Little points mean so many things to to different people all claiming righteousness. Is there a deeper way rather than perceiving others than ourselves to be worldly religionists?”
Any ideas on how to respond? There is so much I could say, but want to get to the depth of the matter…
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Anna,
The response you got on FB reflects someone who either:
a) didn’t understand the quote, and assumes it is promoting legalism and Phariseeism, or
b) has bought into the spirit of this age, which is antagonistic toward the straight and narrow Way, antagonistic toward the objective truth of God’s Word (but may hold to God’s Word as redefined to fit his/her preconceived notions of “Christianity”), and protagonistic toward syncretism and tolerance.
Given that they have already made assumptions about the quote which are not resident within (insinuating the quote is promoting individualism), then knocking the whole thing down with references to legalism and Phariseeism (typical strawman argument), and then to say there is a “deeper way” than the misrepresentation they have just made, leads me to think the person is more “b” than “a”. And if that’s the case, well, IMHO there’s usually little one can do to reason with them, especially on a place like facebook which doesn’t lend itself well to spiritual battles. I’d just delete their comment to my post, rather then giving them a platform to further their antagonism.
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Excellent quote. Thank you for posting. And David, great answer to Anna. You nailed it.
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Yes, David, you did nail it. From conversations, she is the exact representation of person b. I am currently (from what I understand) in the beginning stages of Matthew 18 with her because of this view and others that stem from it. I’m not sure how doctrinal errors fit into church discipline, but please pray for us as we go through this. I know very little about doctrine but I do know that the gospel is being compromised.
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Anna,
I will certainly pray for you. May the Lord guide and direct you as you seek to proclaim God’s Word to her.
DavidW
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