But many people who are in the way do not find His yoke easy nor His burden light.
And all the difficulty is that they do not make the right calculation as to the contest that is met in the way.
Jesus said: Luke 14:31 What king, going to make war against
another king, sits not down first, and consults whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an embassage, and desires conditions of peace.
Many start in the way, and this is the right thing to do.
---But by not properly estimating the force against them nor their power to meet it, they do not prosper in the way as they should, nor as they expected.
---They do not rightly estimate the power of sin, nor their power to meet it successfully. In a little while they find themselves failing repeatedly, and then, after many “ups and downs,” they begin to think that that is the way, and then begin to excuse sin, and apologize for it, and try to strike conditions of peace in that sort of experience.
*But this will never do. Victory can never come that way. No; sit down first, and “consult” as to what are the forces against you, and whether you are able to meet them, and if not able to meet them, then what to do in order to meet them successfully;
--for no apology,
--no compromise,
--no peace, must ever be sought or allowed with sin."
A.T. J ones