Spurred on in Sluggishness

In respect to the sluggishness of our hearts to that which is spiritual; blunt tools need whetting; a dull creature needs spurs. Our hearts are dull and heavy in the things of God, therefore we have need to spur them on and provoke then to that which is good. – The flesh hinders from duty: when we would pray, the flesh resists; when we would suffer, the flesh draws back. How hard it is sometimes to get the consent of our hearts to seek God! Jesus Christ went more willingly to the cross than we do to the throne of grace. Had not we need then provoke ourselves to duty? If our hearts are so unstrung in religion, we had need to prepare to put them in tune. The exercises of God’s worship are contrary to nature; therefore there must be a provoking of ourselves to them. The motion of the soul to sin is natural, but its motion towards Heaven is violent. The stone moves easily to the centre; it hath an innate propensity downward; but to draw up a millstone into the air is done by violence and we must provoke ourselves to it. ~Thomas Watson, The Christian Soldier/Heaven Taken By Storm