248
June 1932
T h e K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
dqubting their right to the term. They send heterodox thinkers to hell by the thousands; they slander their neigh bors, and then engage in prayer. It never occurs to them that slander is a deadlier sin than mere intellectual error. Jesus calls the slanderous spirit a beam, compared with which any other mistake is a thin, slender splinter. Here is a man who condemns a poor creature who is overtaken in a fault; he has no sympathy with such. He sees a man take one too many glasses of drink and lose his equilibrium. Instantly there is a call for the excommunication of the erring brother from the church. Oh, you hypocrite! Pluck the beam from thine own eye; then shalt thou see more clearly the mote, the splinter, that is in thy brother’s eye. The church does not lay hold of this great truth suf ficiently. We think that a little slander is of no conse quence. Condemn the drunkard; turn out the man who, by infinite pressure, has committed some sin-^-turn him out—and never go after him, and never care what becomes of him. Let a wolf gnaw him at the vitals— only get rid of him. Who is the great sinner, the drunkard we have just expelled, or the closely shaven, highly polished pro fessing Christian who does nothing but filch his neigh bor’s good name ? The latter. He does not know the mean ing of Christ’s gospel. He has learned a few words which he chatters with parrot-like accuracy, but the gospel, the all-redeeming, all-hoping, all-saving gospel, he knows nothing about. True Riches oe unto the Christian who spends one-half of his life in getting silver and gold, and the other half in watch ing that they do not run away from him. “ Silver and gold have I none,” said Peter. What had he, then? He had divine energy, spiritual life, a saving message, social sym pathy, and a heart to bless those who needed benediction and assistance. The poverty of the apostles was in mate rial substance only; therefore, it was no poverty at all. He is the poor man who has nothing but money. There are no poorer men in all the range of civilization today than those men who are overweighted with prosperity. He is rich who has high ideals and noble sympathies, who lives in the presence of God, and in the service of the gospel. He cannot be alone; there is no solitude for the truly intellectual and spiritual nature. Some men cannot un derstand silence. If you are not forever talking to them, they suppose you are dull. If you do not walk out hour after hour during the day and talk the whole time, they in quire considerately as to your spirit and as to whether there is not something in your temperament that tends toward melancholy. I f men have not on their faces a perpetual grin, they are supposed to be unhappy. The spiritual man has riches in his mind, in his heart, in his thoughts, in his purposes, and in his beneficent plan, and the night is as the day, and the day is sevenfold in brightness. The spir itual man does not know what it is to feel the chill and pain of solitude. One is never lonely while distributing his riches. Peter and John were the happiest men,in Jeru salem, and none were enjoying a finer fellowship as they shared their riches with the beggar. Silver and gold are not the greatest need of men; real riches are in the hands of God’s people. The glorious gospel of the grace of God has been committed to us. The compassion of Christ is ours. We have access by prayer to God, who has said, “ The silver and the gold are mine.” We have the “ joy of the Lord” which is our strength, and we have the right to pass it on to others. The more we give out of what we have, the more we have. I sometimes wish that I could
cultivate the friendship of more millionaires, but I would not trade the dear, old lady in the poorhouse who prays daily and almost hourly for us, and who sent me, for the Institute, her only piece of money—a gold dollar that she had held as a keepsake since girlhood— I would not trade her, I say, for a dozen multimillionaires. The Bible Institute and the Missionary Program T P here are two numbers on the program of the church; 'JL~ first, to witness to the power o f the gospel and to get men to Christ; and second, to teach the converts the message and to send them out to lead others to Christ. Whatever there is of social service or reform, it must contribute to one or both of these objects. Every Chris tian is called to serve Christ in leading souls to Him and in preparing the “ babes” for effective service for others. The Bible Institute of Los Angeles has this vision. We have had 432 young people in our care during the past school year. We are giving diplomas to 115 in June. Most of these young people are going into full-time Chris tian service in home or foreign fields. God is calling many of them overseas to witness in the darker places of the world. Others have heard the call to labor in their native land. They have been, under God, splendidly equipped for missionary service. For many, the vision of world need was clarified and the call to the unreached masses was in tensified during a wonderful week of privilege, known as the Annual Missionary Rally. The vivid picture of condi tions beyond the pale o f gospel light, upon which they looked with eager interest and consecration, is shared with readers of T he K ing ’ s B usiness through this special missionary number. No agency equips and furnishes more missionaries than the Bible institutes of this country and Canada. Will you not remember them in prayer, and in your giv ing to missions will you not remember that the young missionary’s career begins in the institute? Therefore, when you are supporting the Bible institutes, you are sup porting missions. A Pattern of Personal Work Some one has pointed out that the whale that Jonah en countered was an excellent example of the successful per sonal worker, for the following reasons: 1. He was on time. Had he been a minute late, he would have spoiled the whole thing. 2. He concentrated on one at a time. 3. He didn’t pity Jonah. 4. He didn’t leave Jonah until he was praying. 5. He clung to Jonah until he landed him where he be longed. 6. He was modest. He delivered his passenger, and then disappeared. A Correction In the May issue, the article on “ Teaching the Gospel with Objects” was incorrectly credited to Robert L. Wil der instead of Elmer L. Wilder. An apology is due the author. Users of the lesson on “ The Deceitfulness of Sin” will wish to make note of the fact that in order to discolor the gasoline, black oil color is necessary. This was not made clear ip the instructions. Workers among boys and girls will be glad to know that Mr- Wilder has consented to allow T he K ing ’ s B usine $ s to publish in the future other object lessons that have been found effective.
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