The Christian sees the true meaning of life. The unbeliever lives only for this life. He knows nothing about the life to come. But the Christian understands that this life is of no importance at all unless it is lived in the light of eternity. How important it is that a man have the right philosophy of life. This view of life can come only when a man is in fellowship with God through Jesus Christ. The moment a man becomes a true Christian, he begins to see life in a new way. His sense of values has completely changed and his manner of life, too. (Read and study and discuss the following verses in this connection: Matt. 6:19-24; Mark 8:34-38; Eph. 5:- 1-20; Rom. 12:14; 13:11-14; 2 Cor. 5:- 10-21; Phil. 3:7-15; 1 Thess. 4:13-5:11.) Literacy is one of the blessings of en lightened lands. The greater percentage of the people of the world can neither read nor write! When we remember that this condition prevails because man turned his back on the living God, we shudder at the consequences of such sin. The evolutionist tells us that the heathen world is what it is because man has not evolved far enough up the ladder of human development. But God tells us that the pagan world is what it is be cause men fell from the top of the ladder into the muck and mire below— and this on their own volition. Study carefully the inspired record of man’s spiritual devolution as given in Romans 1:18-32. The larger number of us in America can read and write, and probably we take this privilege lightly. Do you know that it is largely because of the Word of God that we, too, are not savages in the jungles of some heathen land? When the Protestant Reformers gave the people back the Word of God, public education came with it. Throughout the long weary Middle Ages, when the church had robbed God’s people of the Bible, education for the masses became a forgotten thing. Ecclesiastical des potism depends upon ignorance for its control of the people. But with the Protestant Reformation came a resurgence „of interest in the Bible and in human government. It be came apparent that if free people were to govern themselves, they had to know how to read and how to write, and thus the system of public education was in augurated. How sad it is that public education has been getting more secular ized and more pagan. In the beginning it was not so. When the public school system began, the Bible was at the very center of the curriculum, but such is not the case today. More and more God’s August 10, 1952 YOU CAN READ, CAN'T YOU? Acts 8:26-35; Prov. 4:5-13
By Chester J. Padgett, Th.M. Associate Professor of Bible, Bible Institute of Los Angeles
Helps for Christian Endeavor and Other Young People’s Groups
3, 1952 YOU SEE? 66:5; 2 Cor. 4:18
August WHAT DO John 1:35-39; Psa.
that the Christian sees invisible things, things which are eternal (2 Cor. 4:18). Our Lord says that when a man’s spiritual eyes are opened by means of the new birth, he sees “the kingdom of God.” When John the Baptist pointed out the Lord Jesus Christ, he called Him “ the Lamb of God.” Now, all these terms refer to the same thing and are all summed up in the Person and work of the Saviour. When a man becomes a Christian, then he sees the wonders of Jesus Christ. John said, “ Behold the Lamb of God.” The word behold means to con centrate one’s attention upon something. This is important. The Christian is to fix his interest on the Lord Jesus Christ. Keeping Him ever before you is the dif ference between a successful Christian life and one that is not (Psa. 16:8; Heb. 12:2). The most important thing to be hold in Christ is that He is the “ Lamb of God.” It is right here that so many make a tragic mistake. They see Him as a great teacher, or a great organizer, or a great mystic, or a great leader of men, but they do not see Him as the only Substitute for sin. A man must know Christ aright if he is to find the forgiveness of his sin and start out on the road to Heaven (John 14:6; 17:3; Acts 4:12). In your group ask the members to point out some of the wonders of Christ that only the Christian knows. The Christian sees the tremendous worth of the Bible. To many people the Bible is a dry dull Book, but to the be liever the Bible is the most thrilling and wonderful Book in the world (Jer. 15:16; Psa. 119:18, 103, 105). The Bible is the Christian’s guide, his food, his delight, his meditation. Perhaps some in the group can suggest other values of the Bible.
Many of us have eyes that function more or less normally. Our hearts go out to those who are less fortunate than we are and who do not have the use of their eyesight. Sometimes we take the blessing of sight for granted, but we should ever thank God for this untold blessing. Eyes That Really See There is a very real sense, however, in which a man may have normal vision, physically, but be blind or have im paired vision, spiritually speaking. All of us were at one time blind to spiritual things. We could not see the wonders of the Word of God; we could not behold the beauties of Jesus Christ in His Person and work; we could not see be yond the limits of time, and peer into eternity on the basis of the Word of God. To all these things we were blind. Then came the day when our blinded eyes were opened, and Christ became real to us. Prom that time to this we have been able to see things that people cannot see who are not born-again be lievers. Jesus said in John 3:3 that “ ex cept a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” The new birth is a very real and wonderful experience, about which there can be no doubt if it has really taken place. The man who has been born again knows that he has been born again. He knows it by the witness of the Holy Spirit within (Rom. 8:16; 1 John 5:10), by the witness of a changed life (2 Cor. 5:17), by the wit ness of a real love for the brethren (1 John 4 :7), and by the witness of an inner desire to obey the Lord (1 John 2:3). The Sights That Greet Opened Eyes The Psalmist said “ Come and see the works of God” (Psa. 66:5). Paul states
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