VICTORIAN VILLAGE Life Style
What wonder is felt at the power, the mercy, the patience, the compassion of Christ! It is now as it was eighteen hundred years ago. The dealings of Christ are still a marvel both to the Church and to the world. If there were more real faith on the earth, there would be less surprise felt at the conversion of souls. If Christians believed more, they would expect more, and if they understood Christ better, they would be less startled and astonished when He calls and saves the chief of sinners. We should consider nothing impossible, and regard no sinner as beyond the reach of the grace of God. The astonishment expressed at conversions is proof of the weak faith and ignorance of these latter days. The thing that ought to fill us with surprise is the obstinate unbelief of the ungodly, and their determined perseverance in the way to ruin. This was the mind of Christ. It is written that He thanked the Father for conversions. But He marveled at unbelief. (Matt. 11:25; Mark 6:6). We see, secondly, in this passage, how absorbing is the influence of grace when it first comes into a believer's heart. We are told that after our Lord had told the woman He was the Messiah, "She left her water-pot and went her way into the city, and said to the men, Come, see a man which told me all things that ever I did." She had left her home for the express purpose of drawing water. She had carried a large vessel to the well, intending to bring it back filled with water. But she found at the well a new heart and new objects of interest. She became a new creature. Old things have passed away. All things
became new. At once, everything else was forgotten for the time. She could think of nothing but the truths she had heard and the Savior she had found. In the fullness of her heart, she "left her water-pot," and hastened away to tell others. We see here the expulsive power of the grace of the Holy
Spirit. Grace once introduced into the heart drives out old
tastes and interests. A converted person no longer cares for what he once cared for. A new tenant is in the house. A new pilot is at the helm. The whole world looks different. All things have become new. It was so with Matthew the tax- collector. The moment that grace came into his heart, he left the receipt of custom. (Matt. 9:9). It was so with Peter, James, John, and Andrew. As soon as they were converted, they forsook their nets and fishing boats. (Mark 1:19). It was so with Saul the Pharisee. As soon as he became a Christian, he gave up all his brilliant prospects as a Jew to preach the faith he had once despised. (Acts 9:20). The conduct of the Samaritan woman was precisely of the same kind. At present, the salvation she had found completely filled her mind. That she never returned for her water-pot would be more than we have a right to say. But under the first impressions of new spiritual life, she went away and "left her water-pot" behind. Conduct like that described here is, doubtless, uncommon in the present day. Rarely do we see a person so entirely taken up with spiritual
www.VictorianVillage.com (708) 301-0800 | vv@provlife.com | 12600 Renaissance Circle | Homer Glen, IL 60491
6
Made with FlippingBook Annual report