Let us suppose further that the young lady was crafty. She already had a suitor but he was too poor to help her.

"Now," she thought, "I will pretend to accept this rich man's proposal, and as soon as he pays my bills I will run away with the person I really love."

This reminds us of the teaching of "eternal security." The idea seems to be to get Christ to sign on the dotted line. As soon as He does the individual is eternally safe even though he should decide to marry another and live according to the lusts of the world.

How do you think God the Father will deal with someone who despises the love of His Son by attempting to use Him to go to Paradise, and then proceeds to serve Satan?

Christ has not saved us so we may be free to pursue our life as we see fit. He died for us so we may live unto Him. Christ died on our behalf; therefore, we owe Him our life. We are not our own, we have been bought with a price. We are not "free." We are Christ's bondservants, His slaves.

Being Christ's slave is the only true freedom there is.

Again, let us suppose there was a young man who was penniless, undisciplined, uneducated, having little or no parental guidance from his earliest years. He was thrown into jail for stealing.

The chaplain of the jail brought the young man to the attention of a wealthy businessman. The businessman, who had no son of his own, took an interest in the youth. He paid his fine and then reimbursed the people from whom the boy had stolen money.

He brought him into his home. He purchased fine clothes for him and sent him to a private school. The young man learned rapidly and soon had finished college.

Then his new "father" brought him into his business. The businessman watched carefully over his adopted son. Because he had in mind to turn the business over to him he gave him a grueling training in every aspect of the organization.

Seeing the young man was apt to be haughty, he made him spend three years in the lowest levels of the business as a messenger boy, and then as an assistant to the custodial staff. He scrubbed the floor and cleaned the bathrooms. No job was too menial or too dirty. He had to do them all.

The father advised his foremen to treat the young man severely, to make sure he was diligent and that he lived and worked in harmony with other people. The foreman was to watch for personal integrity, truthfulness, trustworthiness, faithfulness in the smallest responsibility. It was a long, difficult apprenticeship.

There came a day when the "work of judgment" was finished. The former street urchin was ready to be president of the corporation. He had passed every test.

So it is in the Kingdom of God.

To be continued.