TORREY MEMORIAL BIBLE CONFERENCE What On Earth Are You Doing For Heaven's Sake?
by Dr. Curtis B. Nims Santa Barbara, Calif.
S ome OF the most penetrating and applicable words which character ize people of our age are found in Mathew 19:23-26, “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. When his disciples heard it, they were exceed ingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is im possible; but with God all things are possible.” Basically, there are three powerful competing forces in all human socie ties. One is the force which is work ing for violent change. This is the power which expresses itself today in Communism. The Satanic system declares that they have no hope of reforming our capitalistic society but- only of destroying it. The second is the force opposing all change. This is represented by the elite of any society. We would refer to them today as the successful men. Society has elevated them to this lofty position. While France was tom by bloody revolution and proponents of violent change, there were men who wanted no change at all. England was spared such bloodshed and the change was peaceful. Credit for this has often been given by outstanding historians to John Wesley and his Bible-loving evangelical Methodists. Some char acters in history stand like Egyptian pyramids. We may look at them with admiration or perhaps with disgust. Other characters are like woodland streams. By following them, we are led to solemn worship. The successful man is like the monolith, stoically set against all change. But the dedicated Christian is like the woodland streams as he endeavors to be led by God and
to set an example so that others may find Christ as Saviour. Christian maturity is the process by which we move from the lower to the better, from the better to higher. No matter how good a way of life appears to us when we first discover it, we should see it through the guid ance of the Holy Spirit and Scripture. It is merely a platform which to see another advance in maturity for the Lord. Peter said, “Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” Time is up for the popular intellectualism and skep- LIFE'S RENEWAL Oh, that we might re-capture All the wonderful rapture Of our early childhood days! If we could somehow win it. Every hour, every minute, Might be filled with joy, wonder and praise. Life may sometimes seem harsh, even cruel, And yet, life has its times of re newal, So we never should feel too forlorn. Let us cast out all fear, Let us be of good cheer. His joy and peace may be ours each morn. — Ralph H. Dumont ticism. Time is up for society to manipulate, maneuver and exploit the lower people. Time is up for serving half a Christ with pre-empted minds. This will never suffice asi far as true Christian service is concerned. Man, living without the Saviour, always tends to be self-righteous. He regards his misfortunes not as a chal lenge to come closer to the real prob lems, but only as a self-vindication of the things he does. He interprets his success in society to mean he is fa vored by God. In addition to this er roneous view, he thinks that he is personally good. The rich young ruler 23
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