Section 18

“These considerations should persuade a person not to treat the ascetic life lightly, especially when he remembers that he is a servant of the Lord and ought to serve his Master.

“A servant would not dare to say, ‘I worked yesterday, so I will not work today.’ He would not count the work already done and then stop working in the future. Rather, as the Gospel says, he shows the same readiness each day so as to please his master and avoid danger.

“In the same way, let us remain firm in our ascetic practice every day. We know that if we are negligent for even a single day, the Lord will not excuse our present carelessness because of our past labor; instead, he will be displeased with us for our negligence. We have heard the same principle in Ezekiel. And Judas, because of a single night, destroyed the labor that had gone before.