deed dwell within our hearts. It was John Bunyan who put it rightly when he said, “The problem of problems is to get Christianity put into prac tice.” A minister of the Gospel was asked to name his favorite Scripture por tion. His answer was quite unique. “Five words which are really not just one verse but found many places,” he explained. “This phrase has kept me through many times of adversity and trial. It is the recur ring statement in the Bible, ‘And it came to pass.’ You see, I’ve found that the difficulties confronting my life are really not there to stay, but rather they’ve just come to pass. I’m trusting God to give me the strength. Sufficient is His grace for every need.” That’s a good and practical word of exhortation and testimony. In verse one we find the human authorship f o r th r ig h tly declared, “James, a servant of God, and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.” A servant is one who has given up all of his own personal freedom so that he might become an instru ment of usefulness in his master's hand. In the light of such a defini tion, what a beautiful word this really is! A little Sunday school boy was asked if he could define the word servant as far as our Christian re lationship is concerned. He thought a moment, and then suggested, “Well, I guess it would be one who never says ‘no’ to his Master.” The un fortunate thing is that too many of us want the Lord as our constitution al king, just so long as we can re tain the right to be the prime min ister. A slave doesn’t have to be con- 3
H aving as the topic for her Sun day school lesson Malachi 3:3, a faithful teacher was interested in the declaration about God, “He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.” She felt it would be interesting to know if a metalurgist actually did sit during the refining process. Seeking one out, she was pleased to learn from him that this was exactly what the craftsman did. He explained, “I have to make c e rta in that just enough heat is used: not too much and not too little.” This she felt would make a perfect illustration of how the Lord always watches over us. As she was starting to leave, the man called her back, “Say, maybe you’d like to know how I can tell when the metal is just exactly right? This added information might prove helpful.” He continued, “As the heat is applied, and the metal becomes molten, I remove the dross. Then, when just the right amount of heat has been used, my sure check is that I am able to see my face reflected in the cauldron.” In all of our expe rience of life, we need to keep in mind that the Lord sends times of severe heating or testing not that He might destroy us, but that we might be refined and come forth as purified silver, tried in the furnace of life. In James 1 :l-5 we have the practi cal application of those truths. There was an old southern preacher who declared. “Dere am de two sides of de Gospel. Dere am de beliebe side, and dere am the behaben side.” He was right. It’s not only that we pro fess a knowledge of Jesus Christ, but also the necessity is that we live exemplary lives, giving clear evi dence that the Holy Spirit does in
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