BEST
the good or the
by Wilbur E. Nelson
young Gospel worker some years ago, who, though not especially gifted or successful, had about him a modest, winsome way that made it pleasant to be near him. Then he struck a vein of Christian service just suited to his particular ability and achieved a degree of reputation —nothing national, or spectacular, but locally note worthy. It would have been better if he had not. He was, when I met him again, blase and patronizing, a stuffy, conceited sort. I shall let you take him apart and explain what happened to him. All I know is that I liked him better before. It is not true, as Mr. Durocher says, that “ nice guys finish last,” whether in baseball or elsewhere, but if you have to become anything but nice to win, you had better lose. Now consider the truth that the good is sometimes the enemy of the best on the highest plateau of thought. Look at it in the light of what Jesus said: “What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:37). Here our Lord pictures the ultimate gain, as far as material, social, cultural, and intellectual things are con cerned. To gain the whole world—what an achievement that would be! To control its treasures of art, to command its scientific genius, to be the supreme curator of its cul ture, to preside over its governments, to be the master of its commerce, the supreme marshal over its armies, would be the final triumph of a human being—or would it? Anyway, Jesus says that whatever the advantage, what ever the gain, whatever the glory of such a pinnacle of accomplishment, it would be a wretchedly bad bargain if it were to cost the loss of the winner’s soul. Of course, no one has ever done this. Men have con quered large sections of the world militarily, but they have never come close to gaining what Jesus had in mind when He spoke of “ the whole world.” And most of us are able to secure only a little— pitifully little—-of it. We work hard most of our lives and feel fairly smug if we can show, for our labors, a bit of real estate 50 by 100 feet, a house that is out of style before it is paid for and a pension, or annuities or something to care for us to the end. If it is a bad bargain to gain the whole world and lose one’s soul, what a horrible swindle we receipt for to forfeit the glories prepared for us in our Heavenly Father’s House for even the good, the pleasing, the lovely things within our poor, limited grasp! Does this describe you? Are you missing the blessed provisions of grace by choosing the good, but inadequate values of religion —mere religion? Do you rob your soul of the bread of life and feed it the tasty but nutritionless little delicacies of pleasure? Oh, give attention to your soul!! Do not smother it with things—however good those things! Do not cheat your soul of its Christ-provided treasure of salvation! Do not let anything keep you from knowing that Jesus Christ, God’s Son, is your Saviour and Heaven vour eternal home! END
P a u l S c h e r e r , in his Yale Lectures on Preaching, tells of a student he knew who in the process of preparing to write his thesis, had developed an excellent index of his material. He had tabs and notches, black ink and red ink, references and cross references—a beautiful system! But as time went by he became so absorbed with the index that he forgot all about the thesis. Studying, perfecting, and refining his index system which, though important, was merely incidental, threw him out of orbit and robbed him of the higher achievement. This can happen in many areas, such as the woman who collected recipes and studied them until she was something of an authority concerning who made what and how. She could tell you what kind of cheese would be best for this, and how much sauce to use for that; and, if you debated the issue, she could argue you under the table. And what kind of culinary compositions did she serve her husband? Do not be silly— she had no time to cook! She was busy with recipes! You probably know someone (I am afraid this, too, would have to be a woman) whose ideas of furnishing a home have gotten out of control until her family do not dare sit in the delicate, sassy chairs which stand in just the proper, casually correct way on the rust and lemon carpet, on which, incidentally, no one risks walking for fear of getting it dirty. So the family perch wherever they can until weariness drives them to try to sleep on some sort of bizarre creations they use for beds. I have seen men come into prosperity, which is, cer tainly, good. And I have seen that prosperity defeat the high ideals and erase the fine principles which seemed to dominate those men before; and that, certainly, is bad. Too often, when some church member can back up his interest in a church or other project with more cash than others, he gets the idea that he belongs in the driver’s seat. He becomes bankrupt of humility and tries to throw his weight around. It is not always that way, thank God, but it does happen. Success in religious work can be deadly, too. I met a
Rev. Nelson is the well known Director of the national radio broadcast, "The Morning Chapel Hour." His unique Gospel messages have been greatly used o f the Lord, not only over the air, but also in meetings across the country.
2S
SEPTEMBER, 1960
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