The Temptations besetting a Useful Life.
I. It well shows how much we always require to obey Christ's command, to watch and pray lest we enter into temptation, that even our very duties may be a snare to us; and we may be falling away from the path of life, even when we seem to others and to ourselves to be following it most steadily. This concerns all those who are engaged in promoting works of charity, and most of all, who are labouring to do good to their neighbour in the great matter of his soul, and who, therefore may be inclined to think that they are employed most securely. It concerns, too, every man who is busily and honestly engaged in his regular calling; who, living in the fear of God, is making his work a godly service; and who, doing good in his generation, is setting forward the kingdom of Christ; and is, so far, casting out devils in his Master's Name. Let us see, then, what it is that the spirit of Christ's words recommends to us.
II. We are so formed that we cannot even work in the most useful calling long together without finding our spiritual state go backwards, unless we often go to Christ, the Fountain of life, and refresh ourselves with His Spirit. Let us treat as one of the devil's worst snares the temptation which we may feel to trust in our own useful lives and virtuous feelings, and, therefore, to neglect coming to God; that is, to neglect the only means of knowing ourselves thoroughly, and thus of obtaining a cure for every weakness of our souls, and a guard to save us from falling away, through the Spirit of Christ our Saviour. Christ Himself, whose day was spent in active usefulness, was accustomed to rise long before it was day, that He might commence with His Heavenly Father. In this, as in all the rest of His life, He was our Example that we should follow His steps: and if He, to whom the Spirit was given without measure, did not neglect the means of gaining fresh spiritual strength by prayer and devout meditation, how can we neglect it, without being certain that we shall suffer for our presumption?
T. Arnold, Sermons,vol. i., p. 264.
References: Luke 10:20. Homiletic Quarterly,vol. iv., p. 414; Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xxii., No. 1321; M. Simpson, Sermons,p. 257; Homilist,vol. vi., p. 174.