cisms made against Christians is that their minds are narrow and their hearts are small. This may not be wholly true, but that such a charge can be made at all is sufficient cause fo r serious heart searching and prayer. Godliness suggests Godlikeness, and to be Godlike is certainly to be magnan imous. God enfolds the world in His heart and contains the created universe. R e s t r i c t e d sympathies make us unlike God, and the brav est thing we can do is to admit it. Nothing is so futile as trying to defend our moral flaws against the sharp eyes o f the world. W e should remove the ground o f the criticism rather than deny it. Paul was a little man with a vast interior life; his great heart was often wounded by the narrow ness o f his disciples. The Christians at Corinth especially gave him much pain because o f their inward constrictions. The sight o f then- shrunken souls hurt him too much, and he once burst out in a cry of mingled indignation and love, “ Our mouth is open unto you , O Corin thians, our heart is enlarged. Ye are not straitened in us, but y e are straitened in your own affections. N ow for a recompense in like kind (I speak as unto m y ch ildren), be ye also enlarged” (2 Cor. 6:11-13, A SV ). If any wonder how they can en large their hearts w e hasten to tell them that they cannot do it. Paul said, “ Be ye also enlarged,” but he did not say, “ Enlarge yourselves.” That they could not do. Only God can work in the heart. The A rch i tect and Builder o f the soul alone can build it anew after the cyclone of sin has gone over it and left on ly one small room standing. If we surrender our hearts to God we m ay expect a wondrous enlargement. And who knows what He can do if we take our hands off and let H im work? “ H ow knowest thou what nobility God has be stowed on human nature,” asks Meister Eckhart, “ what perfections yet uncatalogued, aye, yet undis covered?” And one singular characteristic of the enlarging life is that it is quietly unaware o f itself. The larg est heart is likely to be heard praying, “ Narrow is the mansion of m y soul. Enlarge Thou it.” END. THE KING'S BUSINESS
narrow mansions
by A. W . Tozer
■ n y list o f the spiritually great must include Augus tine, Bishop o f Hippo. A h u n d r e d informed m e n who might vote on who were the mightiest Christians since Paul would be likely to differ widely, but it is safe to assume that every one o f them would mention A u gustine. So great was he, intellect ually and spiritually. The ages have known how great a Christian Augustine was, but a p p a r e n t l y he himself did not know. A t the beginning of his famous devotional work, the Con fessions, he says, “ Narrow is the mansion of m y soul; enlarge Thou it, that Thou mayest enter in.” This was spoken in utter sincerity, and it may give us a hint o f the secret of his greatness. Augustine’s vision of God was so tremendous that his own little ca pacity to receive seemed to him intolerably restricted. God was to him so vast, so world-filling, that no temple could contain H im , no shrine enclose Him. He fills heaven and the heaven of heavens, and the world itself is too small to receive Him. And when Augustine looked within his own heart he saw on ly narrowness and constriction; and it made him sick. “ Enlarge Thou it!” was the involuntary cry of his soul. H ow vastly different is this from the self-satisfied s p i r i t we see everywhere these days. To be saved appears to be the highest ambition o f most Christians today. T o have eternal life and know it is the high est aspiration of many. Here they begin and here they end. Around this one theme they build their 16
narrow t e m p le s , and in these cramped confines they sing then- congratulatory songs and offer their cheery thanks. The widest thing in the universe is not space; it is the potential ca pacity of the human heart. Being made in the image of God, it is capable of almost unlimited exten sion in all directions. And one of the world’s worst tragedies is that we allow our hearts to shrink until there is room in them for little beside ourselves. Wordsworth la mented the fact that as we get older our world grows smaller and the “ light that never was on land or sea” dims slowly and goes out at last. Heaven lies about us in our infancy! Shades of the prison house begin to close Upon the growing boy, But he beholds the light, and whence it flows. ★ * 4c A t length the man perceives it die away, And fade into the light of common day. Of all persons Christians should have the largest hearts; to them the narrowing o f the heart should be an unthinkable calamity. They should seek for inner enlargement till their outward dimension gives no hint o f the vastness within. To be great outwardly and small with in is a kind o f hypocrisy, but the modesty that hides a spacious in terior under a simple exterior must be most pleasing to God. One o f the most stinging criti- About the Author Mr. Tozer is the pastor of a Christian , & Missionary Alliance church in Chicago and editor • , v ? ? .Alliance Weekly/' This article is included in "The Root of the Righteous/' Christian Publications, Inc.
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