THE K I N G ' S BUS I NE S S
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way, according to prophecy, He will re-establish them in their ancient land. Monday, March 20. Rom. 8:35-39. The Rove of God The love of God for man 4s universal, persistent, infinite and eternal. Once upon a time Niagara stopped flowing. Owing to an ice dam thrown across the river, the roar of the cataract was hushed as the waters failed. There has been no moment in time or in eternity nor ever will be, when the love of God has failed, when its heavenly music has been hushed or when the rainbow of its splendor has ceased to span the throne. It is unchanging and unchange able. Christ is the channel of its ex pression. Its proof is not clearly found in nature, history or human life. There is little need of argument at noon whether or no the sun is shining. When we stand before the cross we know be yond all doubt that love is the supreme and central fact of the universe. There is an end of all conjecture when we see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Tuesday, March 21, 2 Pet. 1:1-9. Breaking’ With the Past When a sinner turns to God in peni tence and faith, he becomes painfully aware of his past life. It is a dis couragement and a handicap to -the new and better way before him. How can he get rid of it and forget the things that are behind? Cleansing from old sins is possible. While conscience does not speak of pardon, and science finds no place for clemency, and human government finds it hard to forgive, the miracle has been wrought in Christ. Under the convicting power of the Holy Spirit, sin becomes a terrible reality. Under His converting power pardon be comes as real as sin. When God comes between us and our sins, it is enough. When the heavy burden on the back of Bunyan’s pilgrim rolled into the sepulchre, “ he saw it no more.” The past is under the blood. “ I have blot ted out as a thick cloud thy transgres sions and as a cloud thy sins.” Wednesday, March 22. Rom. 8:19-25. Saved by Hope Hope is one of the enduring graces. Love deals with both the seen and the unseen world. By loving our brother whom we have seen, we learn to love God whom we have not seen. Faith and hope both deal with the unseen world. Faith lays hold upon the un seen present, and hope fastens upon the
unseen future. God assures us of grace and glory. Faith appropriates the grace, and hope anticipates the glory. Hope’s symbol is a star shining in the darkness. The eighth of Romans has a constellation of stars shining down upon the path in which we travel. There is the star of our personal redemption, verse 17, the star of creation’s redemp tion, verse 2 1 , and the star of the church’s emancipation and coronation. Keeping these stars in sight, courage, assurance, and confidence shall be ours, enabling us to demonstrate the saving power of hope. Thursday, March 23. 1 Cor. 12:1-12. Christ’s Re-Incarnation This is the only passage in the Bible where the church is called Christ. To Paul the risen Christ was so much a part of the church, and the church was so much a part of Christ’s post-resur rection life, that the two were actual counterparts. This is a true and noble conception of the church; she is the brjde of Christ! She has been chosen by the Lord to be the special object of His love, to whom He has plighted His eternal troth, whom He has promised to own and crown in the great day of consummation. He has even given her His name. Paul speaks in this way of the church as if it were the only Christ now known or knowable by men. The great apostasy has been made pos sible because the church has come to regard herself as an institution rather than an incarnation. If the church would prove herself the incarnation of Christ, she must share and show more fully and truly His purpose and pas sion. Friday, March 24. Eph. 4:7-13. The Christian Ideal The destiny of the race is of greater consequence than its origin. What is man to become finally? Are we tend ing upward or downward? Paul ex presses the Christian ideal in these verses by saying first of all that the superman of the future is to be a full- grown Christ-man. One writer sums it up in a single phrase: “ just a® per fect as Christ was,” in other words, Christ-likeness. Like Him in character, is holiness. Like Him in spirit, is love. Like Him in purpose, is pleasing God. The Man in Galilee is the superman of Christianity, having a glorified body, a perfect mind, a stainless soul under the control of and filled with the Holy Spir it. The rest of the chapter contains
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