The living a life of faith is often hard labor. Who ever said this was not the case? It is often a struggle, but this is the work for which heaven is the payment. If you want to be paid, do not be lazy in your work. After all, if you had hired a workman, you would not pay him before you had put him to work. You would say, “Do the work, then you will get paid.” This is the way God deals with us.

—Augustine, Sermon 38.4

They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.” To this John replied, “A person can receive only what is given from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less.”

The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. The person who has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.

—John 3:26-36 (TNIV)

John the Baptizer points us to an essential truth here. Because we are blessed with free will, we have a choice to believe God’s promise to rescue us from our exile or think him to be a liar. We do that by whether we believe in Jesus. This requires that, like John, we are to live lives that point others to the Living Christ and not to ourselves. We do this by following him to the best of our ability and allowing him to transform us into his likeness by the power of his Spirit living in us. Tangentially, this also means we have no authority to change the meaning of God’s Word in Scripture because when we do, we in effect are saying that we do not believe God, or believe that Scripture really is his word. And as the Baptizer reminds us, the consequences of our decision are, shall we say, significant.

Complete serenity of mind is a gift of God; but this serenity is not given without our own intense effort. You will receive nothing by your own efforts alone; yet God will not give you anything, unless you work with all your strength. This is an unbreakable law.

—The Art of Prayer

Into your hands will be placed the exact results of your own thoughts; you will receive that which you earn; no more, no less. You will become as small as your controlling desire; as great as your dominant aspiration. The Vision that you glorify in your mind, the Ideal that you enthrone in your heart—this you will build your life by, this you will become.

—James Allen, As a Man Thinketh

What is your controlling desire? Your dominant aspiration? What are you becoming?