44
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
February, 1938
Around the King's By PAUL W. ROOD
Table
Only One Cure in a recent issue of a leading secular magazine appeared an article by a min ister who was a radio counselor and had received thousands of letters from listen ers who wrere in trouble. He had dis covered that many troubled souls leap at an opportunity to unburden themselves to a stranger. In the article referred to, he was analyzing the letters received, and he expressed his conclusion that there were four great maladies that troubled people: fear, anxiety, loneliness, and unkindness. There were two glaring weaknesses in the article. First of all, the minister did not recognize that the fundamental prob lem of man is the sin problem. The basic reason for fear, anxiety, loneliness, and unkindness is that man is not in right re lationship to God. Man has been alienated from God. Sin has separated man from the Lord. “ But your iniquities have sepa rated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear” (Isa. 59:2). In the sec ond place, the writer of the article did not present an adequate remedy. Naturally, when the diagnosis did not go to the root of the matter, the remedy prescribed was inadequate. There is no solution of the sin problem apart from the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. “Without shedding of blood is no remission” (Heb. 9:22). “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). The moment we come to Christ as poor, lost, undone, hell deserving sinners, saying: “Just as I am, without one plea, But that Thy blood was shed for me, And that Thou bidd’st me come to Thee, O Lamb of God, I come! I come,” we find that Christ receives, forgives, and saves us. He Himself has said: “ Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37). Christ is able also to cure the four mala dies to which the preacher referred. Fear is indeed a common oppression. Christ can drive away fear, as millions who have known Him as Lord can testify. When Christ fills the heart, fear departs. Some one has counted 365 occurrences of “fear not” in the Bible. That would mean that there is a “ fear not” for every day in the year. The Christian who has learned to know Christ as Lord knows the perfect love that “ casteth out fear” (1 John 4:18).
The cure for worry likewise is found in Christ. He has assured us of the Father’s love and care: “ Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” God will take care of His own. Peter, inspired by the Holy Spirit, instructs all who are Christ’s to be “ Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you” (1 Pet. 5:7). No one needs to be lonely. Christ is the “ friend that sticketh closer than a brother” (Prov. 18:24). T o those who are His own He has declared: “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the consummation of the age” (Matt. 28:20, R. V. margin). And what wonderful assurance we have in Hebrews 13:5, 6! “ He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.” Men may be unkind in their words and attitude toward fellow men, but the sting caused by their carelessness is removed for the Christian who dwells upon the cer tainty of Christ’s love and compassion. Our Lord deals with us in mercy, and as we “consider him” we are made strong to withstand all the thrusts of unmerciful men. Christ lifts the fallen, comforts the sorrowing and heals the broken-hearted! He is the answer to every question and the solution to every problem. He is God who is enough. Vision, Faith, and Courage Not long ago, the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce offered a prize of five hun dred dollars for the best slogan submitted. “ Vision to see, faith to believe , and courage to do” was the prize-winning slogan sub mitted by Mrs. Harry C. Malry, a mother of three children.' This slogan is appropriate not only for a civic organization but also for a church or an individual. Every Christian and every church needs a vision. “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Prov. 29:18). How much of the unrest of our own nation is attributable to the fact that we have lost our vision of God— only He knows! Speaking broadly of the United States as a whole, the Bible has been spurned, God has been forgotten, and Christ has been rejected! As a people we need a vision of our crucified and risen Lord that will bring
us to the place of repentance and confession and will cause us to cry out to God for a spiritual awakening. Paul had a vision of Christ, and after a lifetime of suffering and service for Christ he was able to tes tify: “ I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision” (Acts 26:19). As a result of Paul’s God-given vision, his life was revolutionized, ànd he became a world missionary. A vision of Christ produces a vision of a lost world and of the neces sity for bringing the gospel to every crea ture. The Christian who desires to live and serve for Christ must have faith in the living God. God uses, only men and women of faith: “Without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a re warder of them that diligently seek him” (Heb. 11:6). Faith is taking God at His Word. When wre go to God in prayer, we should align our wills with His promises; when these promises are conditional, we of course must meet the conditions before we can claim the fulfillment. Faith is absolutely essential in the prayer life. T o him who would obtain answers to his petitions, God’s stated requirements are plain: “ Let him ask in faith, nothing wavering: for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord” (Jas. 1:6, 7). Let us believe God and appropriate His promises! “ Courage to do,” the climax of the three fold slogan, suggests to the. Christian the boldness that will lead to confession of Christ before unbelievers. W e need cour age to stand up for Christ in these days of apostasy. Many professing disciples of Christ are giving in to the spirit of the age and are accepting the philosophy and the program of the world. Men are dominated by atmosphere rather than by conviction. God give us men with rock-ribbed convic tions and with concrete in their backbones to stand boldly for those convictions ! We are* either for Christ or against Him. It is impossible to be neutral as far as Christ is concerned. He has warned us: “ He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scat tered abroad” (Matt. 12:30). W e are either confessing Christ or we are denying Him. Our daily choices in this matter are of eternal significance, for He has said : “Whosoever therefore shall confess me be-
0 Will you pray that results o f the Torrey Memorial Bible Conference (Jan. 23 to 30, 0 1938, at the Bible Institute o f Los Angeles) will bring great glory to the Lord Jesus Christ through a quickening o f love fo r Him and His Word?
Made with FlippingBook HTML5