A Fable with a Lesson

Have you read the story of a traveler whose horse was eaten by a wolf? The story says that a traveler riding through a lonely district on horseback was attacked by a wolf. The traveler, heedless of the wolf, went on his way. The wolf from behind began eating on the horse without the traveler’s knowledge. He ate and he ate until he had eaten into the horse. He kept on eating until finally he ate to the head and to the feet. And so the traveler came riding into his town on a wolf instead of a horse. All that was left of the horse was the skin; there was a wolf inside.

Some folks start out for heaven saved and sanctified. They are attracted by the cares of this life, by neglect of prayer, by impatience, by idle words, by the pleasures of the world, by worldly thoughts. Folks do not give much heed to these. But such eat and eat, and they feed on the spiritual life, and they do it so slowly and so subtly that the traveler is unaware that his spiritual steed is being eaten away. It will be well indeed if he discovers before he reaches his destination that he is riding on an empty profession.