A man’s religion should serve him as a protection against his fears and the opposition of life. A passive attitude toward religion, like a passive attitude toward any definite purpose, has no benefits. Many need spiritual food just as he needs a properly balanced diet of physical food, and religion is the greatest of all sources from which spiritual food may be obtained.
A man’s name on a church membership roll will avail him but little unless he belongs in his own heart and puts something into his religion besides mere passive belief in its soundness, and a dollar in the collection plate now and then. Religion demands doing, not just believing.
True religion gives one humility of heart, sympathy with the unfortunate and a willingness to go the extra mile. It leads to harmony in human relationships, and fosters the principle of the Golden Rule. It strips one of vanity, self-love, excessive ambition, and over-evaluation of material things. It leads inevitably to the attainment of a labor of love, one of the twelve riches of life.
The man who truly has religion proclaims his religion through his deeds. He lives his religion in his occupation, and it comes back to him greatly multiplied, in his pay envelope, in his peace of mind, and in the harmony he finds with his daily associates.
True religion fosters and develops a positive mental attitude and a willingness to live and let live. It leads to the development of creative vision and inspires self-discipline on a noble scale. It also serves as an inspiration for the attainment of whatever positions in life one may aspire to attain.
If yours is an active religion, you are applying it in all of your human relationships. You are applying it fairly and justly in all your dealings with others, regardless of their attitude toward you. And thus you have neither the desire nor the opportunity to waste any portion of your time in destructive effort, either by thought or by deed.
With this attitude toward religion you develop an immunity to all the evils of destructive thought which take possession of an idle mind. We see therefore that religion is something more than a ticket of safe conduct into the hereafter. It is also a passport to the better things of life here and now.
Source: PMA Science of Success. Educational Edition. The Napoleon Hill Foundation. 1961. Pgs. 471-472.
Article by: Napoleon Hill