The higher the calling in the Kingdom the more rigorous are the demands. God is faithful to bring each of us to his predetermined destiny. But it is required that we abide in the calling in which we have been called.

The concept that we will attain our destiny regardless of our faithfulness is false. The gift of redemption, the gift of our place in God's Kingdom, always is an opportunity we can take advantage of or neglect.

Breaking a contract is a serious violation of law. God never will break a contract He makes. Men often break the contract they make with God. As soon as the contract is broken by either party it no longer is binding on the other. Believers cannot defy the words of the Apostles and then expect God to honor His part of the contract.

Notice that God has assigned a unique inheritance to the Apostle Paul, and Paul was required to respond diligently in order to lay hold on the gift of God.

Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ. (Philippians 3:12)

"For which also I am apprehended."

Paul has a specific calling but he had to follow the Lord in order to grasp that for which he has been grasped.

God has given us everything in Christ. All that people could desire, and eternity in which to enjoy it, is ours the moment we receive the Lord Jesus as our Savior and Lord.

But we must lay hold of our inheritance and make certain we receive the full benefit.

If we do not, if we are not careful to replenish the oil of God's grace continually, the door will be closed to us when the Lord appears. The Scriptures are clear that to neglect our salvation is to risk disaster.

Christian teachers of today, perhaps influenced by the prevailing spirit of humanism, often are promising the believers that no matter how they conduct themselves there is no possibility of losing their inheritance as sons of God.

This is not true. The Lord Jesus will divide the inheritance with the strong (Isaiah 53:12). The lukewarm believers will be vomited from the Lord's mouth.

We have been brought to the throne on eagles' wings. Now we must lay hold on the grace of God until our spirit, soul, and body are filled with the Presence of Christ. Any aspect of our personality that is not of Christ can cause unimaginable loss to us if it is not quickly put to death and raised again in the Lord.

The Jews had a clearly defined goal.

From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast. (Joshua 1:4)

So do we. Our clearly defined goal is:

To win Christ.

To rest in God's perfect will.

To receive the rewards promised to the overcomer.

To gain back our body in immortal, glorified form.

To possess the people of the nations of the saved.

To inherit the material universe.

To arrive at the destiny planned for us from the beginning.

All this is ours in Christ. Now we must take possession of it. (from Eagles' Wings)