The Set of the Soul Decides Its Goal

Wednesday, October 13, 2021

By Don Wildmon

Reprinted from American Family Association

One of my favorite poems is this one written by Ella Wheeler Wilcox:

 One ship drives east and another drives west

         With the selfsame winds that blow;

         ’Tis the set of the sails

         And not the gales

         That tells them the way to go. 

         Like the winds of the sea are the winds of fate,

         As we voyage along through life;

         ’Tis the set of the soul

         That decides its goal

         And not the calm or the strife.

I have often wondered why there are so many individuals who frequent our churches but who are unconcerned about the spiritual and cultural war being waged in our society. With so much at stake, it should be that every person who calls himself a Christian should be active and involved in trying to turn back the tide of immorality that seeks to engulf us.

We leaders in the church are responsible for the apathy that exists in our midst. For years, our emphasis has been almost totally on trying to get people to come to church instead of being the church. We have been more concerned with the building than with being. We have left the impression to those who come to our sanctuaries that if they will attend worship with some degree of regularity, give some part of their income, and assume some small role in keeping the institution (both locally and denominationally) going, then they have fulfilled their “requirements” of citizenship in the Kingdom.

Baptist preacher Vance Havner once said that the worst thing that happened to the church was when Constantine made it the religion of the Roman Empire. It gave Christianity respectability. And most of us want respectability more than we want responsibility. We don’t really expect our faith to require much of us, nor to cost us much of our comfort. We expect little or no sacrifice.

   Like the winds of the sea are the winds of fate,

         As we voyage along through life;

         ’Tis the set of a soul

         That decides its goal

         And not the calm or the strife.

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it,” said Jesus. “But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:13–14).

There are those who seek the comfort of the sanctuary, and there are those who seek the cause of the Savior. They are not the same.

Why? They differ because of the set of the soul.