There is No Victory Until the Final Victory – Sunday, November 09, 1941
Even in this day of urgent haste and uncertain expediency, there are still among us some who are trying to appraise things in terms of ultimate values. The gains and losses, the accomplishments and the failures, of each hour or of each day, are not significant, except as they become part of far-reaching achievements and permanent victories. In business, a profit at the end of one day does not mean that we shall stay in business.
In warfare, the victory of one battle does not mean that we have won the cause. In life, a brief and feverish season of good works does not mean that we have lived successfully; and with this thought there comes to mind a significant passage of scripture. So often has it been quoted that it may have lost some of the sharpness of its meaning—“He that shall endure to the end shall be saved.” (Matthew 24:8)
An occasional worthy deed does not make a successful life any more than an occasional cure makes a successful doctor, or any more than an occasional idea makes a brilliant man. There is a premium paid for consistent performance in the ways of life, and fundamentally speaking, no man is considered successful who finishes as a failure, nor is a man considered good who ends up in evil ways. Consider the case of the banker who deals honestly through the years and then, under the pressure of a single day, misappropriates funds and finds himself behind prison walls. He may have endured in good works for fifty years, and yielded to temptation for only one moment, but before the world, and for the record of history, he is a dishonest man. Consider the case of the patriot who serves his country for a generation and then commits one act of treason. In spite of all his service he dies a traitor. It is consistency of living that counts in terms of eternal progress.
The man who falters will receive his reward for his good deeds, but it will not be the reward of him that shall endure to the end. In other words, there is no victory until the final victory. It is the ultimate values we seek, and not the accounting at the end of any one day.
November 09, 1941
Broadcast Number 0,638