Settling for Far Less         I know that many are settling for far less than God is waiting to give. They try to stay happy by adding something to their religion that tickles their carnality from the outside. They introduce converted cowboys and half-converted movie actors, and I think they would even stoop to talking horses and gospel dogs to be able to join in saying, “We had a wonderful time!” They will pay a big price to feature some “ninety-day wonder” so they can get the people to crowd in.       Such as these are mediocre Christians. They have not gained the heights where they can feel the warmth of the sun and yet they are not far enough down to be frozen in the valley.       Certainly God is not honored by our arrested development—our permanent halfway spiritual condition. We honor and please Him by going on to full maturity in Christ. We all know that this is what the Bible teaches. Read your New Testament again and you will agree that mediocrity in the Christian life is not the highest that Jesus offers.       Why, then, are we such common Christians? Why have we settled for such shallow pleasures, those little joys that tickle the saintlets and charm the fancy of the carnal?       It is because we once heard a call to take up the cross, and instead of following toward the heights, we bargained with the Lord like a Maxwell Street huckster. We started asking selfish questions and laying down our own conditions.       We had seen the finger of God beckoning. We had been stirred by His Spirit, and all aglow with desire, we considered going up to the mountain. We felt an urge to be spent for Christ, to live as near to spiritual perfection as it is possible in this life.       However, instead of going on we started asking questions. We began to bicker and bargain with God about His standards for spiritual attainment.       This is plain truth, not about unbelieving “liberals” but about those who have been born again. We have His life—and yet when He calls us to the heights, we begin to quibble and bargain.       “Lord, what will it cost me?” we ask. “I want to go on, but I want to know what it will cost me!”       I am convinced that anyone who brings up the question of consequences in the Christian life is only a mediocre and common Christian. He seems to have completely forgotten that the cross is involved at this point. Jesus Himself plainly said, “Take up [your] cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23), and “If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour” (John 12:26). Jesus said that!       So, the devoted and committed person who takes the cross and follows the Lord does not ask what the consequences will be, neither does he argue about God’s plan and God’s wisdom.       I have known some who were interested in the deeper life, but hesitated for fear of what such a decision would cost in time, in money, in effort or perhaps in the matter of friendships. These are some of the areas that hinder us.       Now, I do not mean to put down the value and meaning of dear friendships. Human friendships can have a beautiful character that will carry over into the world to come. But the point is that if we ask questions about losing friends when the Lord is dealing with us about spiritual blessing and victory, we are not worthy to be among the saints.