There is also a positive, an active, aggressive side to the Christian life, which calls for the putting forth of our utmost endeavours, the use of every faculty, a personal and intelligent co-operation with Christ. It is lopsided. While emphasizing one aspect of truth, it sadly ignores other aspects equally necessary and important to be kept before us. Thus, to deny that a Christian is called upon to engage in a ceaseless warfare with the flesh, the world, and the Devil, is to fly in the face of many plain Scriptures. There is a very real twofoldness to the Christian life, and every aspect of Divine truth is balanced by its counterpart.
Practical godliness is a mysterious paradox, which is incomprehensible to the natural man.
The Christian is strongest when he is weakest, wealthiest when he is poorest, happiest when most wretched. We are called upon to engage in a ceaseless warfare. The Christian life is to be lived out on the battlefield. We may not like it, we may wish that it were otherwise, but so has God ordained. Yet that is by no means an easy task.