THE KING’S BUSINESS Illustrations
90
A lady w ho fo r m any y e ars h ad been a g re at su fferer said, a fte r a visit from th e sain ted D r. C h alm ers: “ O h, yes, I am b e tte r this afte rn o o n . Mr. C halm ers h as b een h e re today, an d he n e v er com es b u t a fte r he is gone I th in k , th a t is ju st how Jesus w ould have com e to see m e; th a t is ju st how Jesus w ould have spoken, to m e; th a t is ju st how Jesus w ould have looked.” God help u s so to live th a t p eo ple w ill rem em b er Jesus C hrist. W e n ev er go an yw h ere th a t w e do no t leave a n im pression. W h at kin d is it? W e c an n o t sp eak a w o rd w ith o u t ex ertin g som e kin d of an influence. O f w h a t so rt is it? A silent influence is continually em erging from us, as a flow er em anates its odors. D oes it leave a n im pression like this g re at S cotch p re a c h e r left? Does it poison o r does it charm , w hich? L ouis A lb e rt B anks tells of a c o n v er satio n w hich he once h ad w ith a rem a rk ably b rillian t m an, w ho h ad gone to h e a r Mr. M oody o u t of p u re curiosity. H e w as a n o u tsp o k en critic, a n d h a d m any o u tb rea k in g sins. B ut h e w as converted, a n d w hen ask ed th e reaso n fo r th e sud den change, his rep ly in su b stan ce w as th is: “ I w ent to h e a r M oody ju st to pick flaws in him . F rom w h a t I re ad in th e p ap ers, 1 th o u g h t he w as a n u n educated, p lain so rt of a m an, a n d I ex p ected to have p len ty of p o ints to jo k e a b o u t a fte r w ard. B ut w hen I got th ere , I found th a t I could n o t get a t M oody a t all. H e stood th ere on th e p latform , a n d hid b e hin d th e Bible, a n d ju st p o u n d ed m e w ith Bible texts, a n d a fte r a w hile th ey w ent hom e to m y h e art, stra ig h t a s bullel3 from a rifle. I tell you, M oody’s pow er is in th e w ay h e h a s his Bible a t th e tip cf his to n g u e.” W ith o u t doubt th is w as a se c re t of the evangelist’s pow er. T h e W o rd is a sw ord. It has a n edge m ost keen. It will do g re at execution. It is p ra ctic a lly resistless. A re you m aking all possible use of the Bible ?
C h ristian ity cen ters in C hrist. Its k ey no te is loyalty to him . O u r religion is not prim arily a creed, a philosophy, o r a system of th o u g h t, b u t a tta c h m e n t to a D ivine P erson. T h a t is beau tifu l testim ony w hich a G las gow black sm ith gave co n cern in g th e saintly D r. N orm an M cL eod: “ H e n ev er cam e into m y shop w ith o u t talk in g to m e as if h e h ad been a b lacksm ith all his life; b u t h e never w ent aw ay w ith o u t leaving C h rist in my h e a rt.“ W h en Q u een E lizabeth w as sending an am b assad o r fa r aw ay on im p o rta n t a n d difficult business, h e a sk ed : “ But w h at will becom e of m y ow n business a n d m y fam ily ?“ T o w hich th e qu een rep lied : “You tak e c are of m y business an d I will tak e c are of y o u rs.“ If w e a re doing G od’s w o rk , H e w ill tak e care of o u r in terests. H e is pledged to do it. T h e G ospel is sum m ed u p in its found er. In this im p o rta n t resp ect it differs from all o th e r religions th e w orld has ev er know n. W e m ay a cc ep t as tru e th e sayings of B uddha, C onfucius, o r M oham m ed, no m a tte r w h a t we th in k of those teach ers, b u t w e can n o t do so w ith C hrist. W e can n o t a cc ep t his teachings a n d re je c t H im . E ven in th e n a tu ra l m an, th e p ow er of a fixed p u rp o se is trem en d o u s. P eople m ake w ay fo r th e m an w ho know s w h ere he is going. A p re sid en t of a w estern col lege recen tly to ld his stu d en ts of a tele gram th a t a frien d of his h a d seen w hich A dm iral T ogo had sent to a n associate befo re th e naval b a ttle in w hich h e alm ost com pletely destro y ed th e R ussian fleet. “A fte r a th o u san d v ary in g th o u g h ts,” the a dm iral w ired, “ now one fixed p u rp o se .” In th a t fixed p u rp o se h e w en t o u t to w in a signal v icto ry fo r his natio n . W hen C h rist’s p u rp o se fo r us becom es th e one fixed p u rp o se of o u r life, n o du ty c an con fro n t us th a t we c an n o t accom plish.
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