What Religion Demands


Follow not that which is evil, but that which is good.--III John 11.

However defined theologically, religion is ever a call to men to forsake that which is evil and follow that which is good.

Men have sometimes thought of religion as a kind of distinct entity--something separate from all the other concerns of life, to the pursuit of which one might give himself, just as one gives himself to art, or literature, or politics. But that is an entirely wrong conception. Religion, instead of being one among many provinces of life, is rather something which includes them all.

Instead of being a thing apart from the ordinary affairs of life, it is just there or nowhere that religion is to have sway, to be realized and lived.

Religion demands goodness; it makes goodness the principal thing. It teaches that above all else we should seek after goodness. This does not mean that the other rightful ambitions of life are to be denied, but that they are to be kept in due subordination to what must ever be the supreme aim of every true life--to do what is right and good, to be good and do good.

There are many things that are desirable; there is one thing that is necessary--I do not have to succeed in attaining my ambition, but I must do right.

Life sets before us many and varying forms of greatness; but high above all other forms of greatness is the greatness of goodness.

Promotion in office, prosperity in business, honors and ribbons for distinguished service--all these are well for us if we deserve them. Yet are they all but as the small dust of the balance by the side of what is right.

You may not always judge things by this standard. Many clamorous tongues may seek to drown the voice of the better self within you. But, make no mistake about it, there will come a time when all these tongues will be hushed, and in that holy silence of the soul you will know--know beyond all question--that it is for ever true, that better than to be rich or clever or famous is it to be pure and true and good. You will come to see, sooner or later, that better than all things else is what religion demands.