Having "girded up the loins of your mind" for a long, steady and determined effort, "be sober"; do not allow yourself to become excited and, under the spur of excitement, to exhaust all your spiritual vitality in a very short time, and then to suffer a relapse into coldness or discouragement. Strive thoughtfully to consider and prepare for a long and patient endurance of all the discipline and trial of faith and patience necessary to prove an overcomer and worthy of the blessed reward promised "to him that overcometh." The race before us is not one to be run by fits and starts, but by "patient continuance in well doing".
The Christian should ever stand with his knowledge so arranged as to be ready for service. Not impulsiveness but sober thoughtfulness should characterize his mental habits. With such a disposition the earnest hope for the glorious prize offered, which he will receive during our Lord's Second Advent, will be a constant inspiration to do, to be and to endure for the glory of the Lord.
Luke 12:34, 35; Rom. 13:13; Eph. 6:14; 1 Thes. 5:6, 8; 1 Pet. 4:7; 5:8; 1 Cor. 1:7; Phil. 3:20; Titus 2:13; Heb. 6:18, 19; 2 Pet. 3:12.
