I s t h e r e a “ Ptolemaic error” among your spiritual formulas? There may well be; and this relatively simple miscalculation could be robbing you of untold profit, joy and usefulness in your Christian life. Ptolemy of Alexandria was the mathematical giant of his day. He was a man whose findings in astronomy and cartography were accepted without question by the scientific world. But in one vital area Ptolemy was wrong '•*- and around this Ptolemaic error there was clustered a host of scientific difficulties which stumped the experts for nearly a millennium before the true facts were discovered. The theories propounded by Ptolemy were based on his careful observation of the movement of celestial bodies. “ The earth,” he said in essence, “ is the center of the system of which our planet is a part. The posi tion of our terrestrial ball is fixed. We observe that all of the other celestial bodies revolve around the earth.” For generations the Ptolemaic system was a funda mental truth in the field of astronomy. All the outward, observable evidence substantiated Ptolemy’s findings. But for nearly 1400 years the world of astronomical science was plagued by a set of related problems well-nigh in soluble because of a simple error in the theory of the Alexandrian. The fact is, the earth is not the center of our solar system at all. The center is the Sun. It was the celebrated Copernicus who loosed our scien tific thinkers from the bondage of an erroneous premise. He found the error in the Ptolemaic theory. It was Coper nicus who discovered that the center of our system is the light, the “daystar,” and that our own earth and all the other planets throughout all of time must revolve in changeless orbit around that fixed center and source. He found the truth, and in a very real sense that truth set all astronomy free. The error of Ptolemy is the basic error of every human attitude. The center is myself, and all of life must be ever in motion around what I hold to be my interests. It is my plans that are important; my security that must be obtained; my comfort and convenience to be secured. It is my point of view that is to be protected and my goals that are to be reached. I want to please God and serve Him effectively, but . . . ! After all, I must protect my own interests, for no one else will. Is there not a touch of Ptolemy in us all? Scripture puts it this way'. “ Their heart goeth after their own covetousness.” Thus all human flesh is in competition. For each, his own is first. One builds and another tears down. One starts and another stops. One decrees and an other denies. Each is a cell, encircled by his own con cerns. Can this by the reason why there are so few lives surrendered for service on the foreign mission field? Is it not likely that the Ptolemaic error is preventing multitudes of Christians from the use of their time, tal ents and material possessions in a way pleasing and profitable to the Lord? It is in the spiritual realm precisely as Copernicus found it to be in the physical realm — the center and the source is the Son of God. Happy is the man or woman who has been delivered from the bondage of self-service and self-seeking and released into the breathless liberty of a Copemican point of view! Life does not really re volve around me at all. That is a costly delusion. The truly blessed one is the one who has yielded his life to an obedient orbit around the will of a loving and wise Lord Jesus Christ for His child. With our lives thus in orbit around Him, His busi ness becomes our business, His desires our privileged duty. And the end result is our infinite gain. THE KING'S BUSINESS
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