Hold Fast

I urge you by our common faith, by my true and simple love for you. Hold fast to your glory with courage, perseverance, and strength, having over come the enemy. We are still in the world. We are still placed in the battlefield. We fight daily for our lives. Take care in order to profit from these battles and to finish what you have begun to be. It is a small thing to attain something, but it is more important to keep what you have attained. Faith and saving birth makes alive, not by being received, but by being preserved. It isn't actually attainment, but the perfecting, that keeps a man for God. The Lord taught this when He said, "Behold, thou art made whole; sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee." Imagine Him as saying this to one who confesses Him, "Lo, thou art made a confessor' sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee." Solomon, Saul, and many others were able to keep the grace given to them as long as they walked in the Lord's ways. But when they abandoned the Lord, grace abandoned them. - Cyprian (c.200-258).