November, 1935
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
409
“ What an urgent commission!” was another impression that came to me as I thought o f the words o f Jesus in Mark 16:15. “ Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” Should we not make greater use o f modern inventions in getting out the gospel? The radio offers a unique opportunity to preach Christ to multi plied thousands. A missionary is planning to contact the jungle lands in Latin America by means of a hydroplane. Are we Christians as wide-awake as we ought to be in using all the means at our disposal in propagating the gos pel? Aside from the question o f methods of procedure, the urge must be upon us so that we, dominated by zeal, shall do our utmost to tell perishing souls about the Lord Jesus. Haste is essential, because men are under the sen tence o f death. Our children are forming habits that are determining their destiny. The devil is never idle. Our day is fast passing away, and judgment draweth nigh. God’s business must come first. May God help us to do our best to win the lost in these closing days o f this dispensation. friends who stood by us in joy and in sorrow, in sickness and in health, whose warm handclasp, friendly smile, and encouraging word have fortified us to face life with new courage and confidence. Seventh, I am equally grateful for the beautiful world in which it is our privilege to live. Whether we study it in the minute or the vast, it is a matchless poem o f the Creator’s praise. “ The heavens declare the glory o f G od ; and the firmament showeth his handiwork.” Walled in by MY PERSONAL THANKSGIVING [Continued from page 407]
towering mountains -^- snow-capped in winter and sun- kissed in the summer, domed in blue by day and frescoed with star jewels at night— sunrise in the morning, sunset glow and grandeur in the evening, all speak eloquently of Him who in the beginning created the heavens and the earth. To use the words o f Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Earth is crowned with Heaven And every common bush aflame with God. Eighth, I am thankful for the difficult places of life. Under the guiding and educating hand o f God, they have made a contribution to and have played a part in the devel opment of our characters. Oaks are not the product of hothouses; they are made sturdy and strong by storms as well as by sunshine. Some one from the productive part of the Middle West was visiting a New England farmer. He looked at the bleak and barren New England hills and ask ed, “ What do you grow here?” Quick as a flash from the sturdy New Englander came the answer, “ W e grow men.” No crop is greater and more needed than this one. ' God give us men. A time like this demands strong hearts, true faith and willing hands; Men whom the lust of office cannot kill; Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy; Men who possess opinion and a w ill; Strong men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog in public duty and in private thinking; God give us men. Character at its best is not the product of smooth seas and sunlit skies. It is the rough and hard places o f life that develop the highest type o f character and the noblest men and women. Ninth, I am thankful also for the educational advan tages that America offers her youth. The campuses of our schools and colleges are crowded each year with young men and women who have had cultural and educational advantages equaled nowhere on the face o f the earth. Ours is a land where the boy at the foot o f the ladder may climb to the top. But I am grateful, over and above all else, for Christ, my Saviour and my Lord. He was and He is God’s crown ing gift to a lost and sinning world. He should be the center and the circumference o f our thoughts and thanksgiving. He brought life and immortality to light by the gospel. Thank God for His virgin birth, His virtuous life, His vicarious death, His victorious resurrection, and for the hope o f His visible and imminent coming again. It may be at morn, when the day is awaking, When sunlight thro’ darkness and shadow is breaking, - That Jesus will come in the fullness o f glory, To receive from the world “ His own.” He is coming back to raise the sleeping saints, to rapture His ransomed church, and to inaugurate the Golden Age o f His glorious reign. Every knee shall bow to Him and every tongue shall confess that He is Lord, to the glory o f God the Father. Finally, I am grateful for the privilege of service in the ranks of Christ’s militant church on earth. Service is the natural sequence of salvation. W e are workers together with God. I am happy to be counted among those who believe in a divinely inspired Bible, in salvation by faith in the crucified, risen, and coming Christ, and in His world wide program of evangelism for this age as contained in the marching orders: “ Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” L ife’s greatest blessing is service; life’s greatest blight is selfishness. “ Not to be ministered unto, but to minister” was the motto o f the greatest Life that ever trod the dusty way of this world of ours. As we follow Him, our daily life will be one o f con tinual thanksgiving.
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