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make Him our Master. He does not re quire that we demonstrate our ability to do big things, hard things, mighty things, great things, for Him. He asks only that we let Him do all things with us. THE MISSION OF THE CHRISTIAN SOLDIER: • We have seen Sunday;school les sons which presented the mission of the Christian soldier in the light of “carrying a message to Garcia.” Ac cording to thafc famous tale, a man was told to deliver a “message to Garcia.” He was given no information as to how to reach his destination; he ; was simply told to go. By dint of perserverance, courage, and ingenuity, he finally succeeded in delivering the message. The story does have a moral, of course; it demon strates that one should not give up, should not be discouraged easily. But it is a gross perversion to use it as 'an illustration of the course and calling of the soldier of the cross. 1 Christ never sent any follower of His on a “mission to Garcia,” and ac cording to His Word He never will. He never asks us to go anywhere alone. He always wishes to go with us. He always is with us to point the way. He may lead us in ways that we do not understand, for purposes that we do not perceive. But He will never re quire that we take one step of the way with His hand withdrawn from ours. Whatever we are to do for Him, we must do with Him and by Him and through Him. • Daniel Webster said that1 to become good citizens, we must first become good Christians. We cannot truly serve our country,, except by truly serving Christ! To serve in this crisis, each one of us needs something more than self-control; we need Christ- control. We need to put forward some thing more than “our best” ; we need to let Christ do His best through us. Our best may not be enough; but His best will always be more than suffi cient, yVe need'1 to do more than live our life for our country; we need to let Christ live His* life through us. AN "OFFENSIVE" FOR THE GOSPEL: • After addressing a group of univer sity students, this writer extended to them the privilege of asking questions., One student arose and read a long quotation from a celebrated scientist, who happens to be definitely modern istic in his religious beliefs. In the quotation, the scientist declared that thp Bible is not an infallible guide to truth, that it must be interpreted in the light of the limited knowledge [ Continued on-Page 200] SERVING COUNTRY BY SERVI NG CHRIST:
ABOUT SOLDIERS [ Continued from Page 163]
Ing man. Self-control has always been lauded as a jewel among the Christian virtues. The Bible teaches that he who rules 'his spirit is greater than he that takes a city» But how do we develop self-control? There is a kind of self-control which means control of self, by self, and for self. A youth may possess this kind of self-control, developed to a fine art, but still he cannot be used as a soldier of the cross. True self-control, the kind which equips one for s e r v i c e in Christ’s cause, is control of, self, by Christ, and for Christ. There can be no real self-control without Christ-control. THE TRUTH ABOUT "WILL-POWER": • We cannot conform our lives to Christ; we must be transformed by Him, to Him. What is required is not a will with power, but a will that has been purified. W e c a n d e v e l o p strength of will, but only Christ can give us purity of will. We cannot live for Christ unless we also live by Christ. We cannot be for Him, unless we are dependent upon Him. Unless He is our strength, He cannot be our guide. Unless He is our life, we can not live for Him. There is no such thing as a man’s “living his own life” for Christ. Young people are customarily given a confused and incomplete conception of the nature of will power. The fa mous lines written in celebration of the boast, “I am the master of my
fate, I am the captain of my soul,” were authored by a confirmed agnos tic who expressed thanks to “what ever gods that be” for his “unconquer able soul.” The spirit of this egotism has found its way into the-conven tional method for training youth in the possession and exercise of will power. In home and Sunday-school, the average Christian child, often as not, develops the idea and aspiration: “I must be strong; I must develop my self; I must build myself up to the stature which God has set for my life; I must cultivate a strong will. I must always stand for the right. I must have the will power always to do for Christ what He wishes me to do.” But Christ is not calling today, or any day, for youths who are strong in themselves, who have, “made some thing of ' themselves,” w ho h a v e “ achieved self-mastery.” He is looking for those of whom He can make some thing. Christ is not seeking for wills that are made of steel and flint. He is look ing for wills that are soft and yield ing, that can be melted and molded into identification with His own. Christ is looking for those who will come to Him and follow Him, not with wills made hard by self-control, but wills made soft by self-surrender. Christ does not require that we shall prove ourselves able to master self. He requires only that we be willing to.
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