THE KING’S BUSINESS
138
selves. This means that according to Jesus’ interpretation of life men are free to choose and therefore are re sponsible for what they choose to be and to do. In the third place Jesus taught that man is more than a mere animal, and survives the crisis of death. That fact regarding life, like the fact of God, is practically assumed by Christ. He never presents a reasoned statement regarding the immortality o f the soul; He simply speaks of man as an im mortal being. For Christ, the veil that separates between time and eternity was very thin. Not only did He teach that men who had the power to destroy th e ' body through death had no power over the real manj but He triumphantly demonstrated the fact. Christ submit ted to the horror and shame of death, but He conquered it. He came forth from the grave showing that death is only an incident in life. He also showed that what survives death is vitally identified with the life which has been lived upon earth. In other words He showed that personality is an indestructible unit. In this fact we have the guarantee of equity in the moral universe. After death comes judgment, a process in which every thing shall be finally adjusted on the basis of strict justice as interpreted by the love and mercy of a just God in a purpose and plan of redemption. Man has business^ with God and he cannot escape His righteous judgment. Now what about these essential facts regarding life and its meaning in the light of our modern thinking? During the latter part of the 19th cen tury there was a most searching at tempt made to prove that man is mere ly an evolving animal holding within the secrets of his own life all that is essential to the completion of that life. Men taught that all that was necessary to perfect men were a congenial mate-
other way of saying that His life, which is the perfect life, is impossible apart from God. Life cannot be fully realized only as it has relations with God. Jesus not only lived this, but He very definitely taught that it is a fundamental principle of life. He showed that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of. the mouth of God. It would be impossible to understand the life of Christ apart from this re lationship. It is the determining fac tor in it from beginning to end. To Him it was more important than mere physical life, or popularity or success or any of the mere accidents of life. This, then, is the fitst great funda mental principle which enters into the meaning of life as interpreted by Jesus. In the second place as we read the story of the life o f Christ as given by Luke we are made to feel -that the life which He lived was the result of a deliberate choice. He chose to walk in fellowship with God, to do His will, and to pour out His life for the good of others. Again and again we are made to feel that He could have chosen another way of life and have escaped some of the sorrows which He endured. At one time He said, that if He desired to do so, He could call twelve legions of angels to deliver Him out of the hands of His enemies. But He chose not to do so. This ele ment of choice is always present in His life and work. It also has a prominent place in His teachings. In deed, according to His teachings it is the basis upon which men are to be judged. The final sentence is passed upon men on the» basis of. what they chose to do or to leave undone. They are condemned because they had power to do things, and they chose not to do them. Responsibility rests with them and not with the cir cumstances in which they found them
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online