I realize that any discussion of the spiritual disciplines is an invitation to condemnation; any one of us thinks, “I should do more.” And we should. We are sinners, and our disposition is to stray, to drift from the devotion we once had, to lose our first love.

We need to be encouraged by words like these, from page 50 of Puritan Richard Sibbes’ classic, The Bruised Reed. (Note: This is old language; you should know that “duty” and “good actions” refer to spiritual disciplines; “flax” is a wick, like in a candle.)

“It should encourage us to duty that Christ will not quench the smoking flax, but blow on it till it flames. Some are loath to do good because they feel their hearts rebelling, and duties turn out badly. We should not avoid good actions because of the infirmities attending them. Christ looks more at the good in them which he means to cherish than the ill in them which he means to abolish.”

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