absolutely nothing. In actuality, I have gained everything! I may have missed some things in my old life but the dropping off of them was like losing a toothache — it feels good when it is gone! My sins were gone and buried in the depths of the deepest sea. It is well to consider the trans figuration experience Peter had, given to us in Mark 9, where he told the Lord, "Master, it is good for us to be here." He loved to be on the mountain-top. Jesus gave to Simon Peter a foretaste of the coming kingdom. He liked this situation much better than the Lord's earlier discourse about the cross and all the impending dif ficulties to be faced. Is he not a lot like we are? It is truly a trans figuration experience when Jesus Christ lays hold upon our lives. But there are the trials and tribu lations of life which we must also face. Peter's first reaction was, "Let us make three places of worship. There can be one for Moses, one for Elijah, and one for You, Lord." What we have here, 1 believe, is the birthplace of comparative re ligions. God instead says, "This is my beloved Son: hear Him." Peter had a blurred vision of Jesus Christ. How we need to keep the Saviour pure before our minds and hearts. We should love and adore Him, living so that the Spirit of God can make Him real to our souls and enrich our lives to the ultimate blessing of others. A SLEEPY DISCIPLE There is a great danger when we allow broken fellowship with the Lord to go unchecked in our lives. The first evidence we have seen Page 23
tue in the watering trough the city had for horses. It was an iron dog which had so been designed that water flowed out of its mouth into the pool below. I have often thought of that dog since I have been a Christian. How many bar rels and tons of water poured over that little dog's tongue and yet it never tasted a drop of it. The sin of our day is trafficking in unreal ized and unfelt truth. If we hear the Word of Cod we had better allow the Holy Spirit to apply it to our souls. If we do not we will follow Peter's footsteps in back sliding. It does not take one a long pe riod of time to backslide. Two hours earlier Peter had been on the mountain-top of spiritual de light. Now he finds himself on the road to defeat. Backsliding begins on the inside before it is manifest on the outside. This we see in Mark 8:32 where it tells us that "Peter took Him, and began to re buke Him." The Lord rebuked Pet er by saying, "Get thee behind me Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of Cod, but the things that be of men." The Lord then gathered the group around Him and explained, "Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it." Mark it well that no one who followed such a divine prescrip tion ever came out the loser. Full surrender means eternal gain! Many years ago, on my knees before Cod, I told the Lord Jesus I was putting my trust in Him, claim ing Him as my Saviour. I have lost
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