A.W. Tozer emphasizes the vital connection between our actions and their consequences, asserting that both temporal and eternal outcomes are significant in the lives of believers. He points out that while it is commendable to live with an awareness of eternal consequences, living solely in fear of temporal repercussions is detrimental and unjustifiable. Tozer warns that this fear has cast a shadow over the church, leading to a moral decline that undermines true faith and reverence for God. He calls for a return to a mindset that prioritizes eternal truths over immediate fears.

There is a close cause-and-effect relationship between deeds and consequences. No right-thinking person would try to deny this. The whole scheme of rewards and punishment is a solid and substantial part of the belief of both Jews and Christians, as well as of many moral philosophers and of religions other than the Judeo-Christian. The human race at first was put on probation with the words, ?but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die? (Genesis 2:17). This is truth so generally accepted by Christians everywhere as to call for no further comment here. To live our lives reverently in the fear of God and in view of eternal consequences is right and good, but to live our moral lives in fear of temporal consequences is an evil, a great and injurious evil for which not one shred of justification can be found. Yet the shadow of the fear of consequences lies dark across the church today and its blight is seen almost everywhere.