Comparatively trivial as was Barnabas's error, it seems to have wrecked
his life, at least to have marred it for long years, and to have broken
his sweet companionship with Paul. I think we may go further and say,
that most good men are in more danger from trivial faults than from
great ones. No man reaches the superlative degree of wickedness all at
once. Few men spring from the height to the abyss, they usually slip
down. The erosive action of the sand of the desert is said to be
gradually cutting off the Sphinx's head. The small faults are most
numerous. We are least on our guard against them. There is a
microscopic weed that chokes canals. Snow-flakes make the sky as dark
as an eclipse does. White ants eat a carcase quicker than a lion does.
So we urge the necessity for bringing ordinary deeds and small actions
to be ruled and guided by God's Spirit.
How the contemplation of the imperfection, which is the law of life,
should lead us to hope for that heaven where perfection is.
How the contemplation of the limits of all human goodness should lead
us to exclusive faith in, and imitation of, the one perfect Lord. He
stands stainless among the stained. In Him alone is no sin, from Him
alone like goodness may be ours.