CROWN OR CRUCIFY I stood alone at the bar of God, In the hush of the twilight dim, And faced the question that pierced my heart "What will you do with Him? Crowned or crucified? Which shall it be?” No other choice was offered to me. I looked on the face so marred with tears That were shed in His agony The look in His kind eyes broke my heart, ’Twas full of love for me. “The crown or the cross,” it seemed to say “For or against Me, choose thou today.” He held out His loving hands to me, While He pleadingly said, “Obey! Make Me thy choice, for I love thee so”— And I could not say Him nay. Crowned, not crucified, this must it be; No other way was open to me. I knelt in tears at the feet of Christ, In the hush of the twilight dim, And all that I was, or hoped, or sought, Surrendered unto Him. Crowned, not crucified—my heart shall know No King but Christ who loveth me —Florence E. Johnson THE WEAVER My life is but a weaving Between my Lord and me: I cannot choose the colors; He worketh steadily. Ofttimes He weaveth sorrow. And I in foolish pride Forget He sees the upper, And I, the underside. Not till the loom is silent And the shuttles cease to fly, Shall God enroll the canvas And explain the reason why The dark threads are as needful In the Weaver’s skillful hand As the threads of gold and silver In the pattern He has planned.
new feathers. An eagle has a life span about that of an individual, around 70 years. An eagle, when it grows older, begins to get a strange growth over its beak. It is then it makes it almost impossible for the feathered creature to pick up kernels. It has a difficult time seeking out the proper food. This ugly growth has to come to full maturity before it can easily be broken away and removed. The eagle will rub its beak against a rock so that eventually this extra growth breaks off and falls away. I don’t think it’s too far-fetched to sug gest that there are a lot of Christians who have grown a shell over their spiritual noses. What I’m saying is that some of us need to get to the Rock of Ages to rub off this exterior of criticism. Cynicism, fault-finding, gossiping, and the other sins which the Spirit of God detests, but which so often become a part of acceptable Christian activity should be rubbed off. Some months ago, I was talking to a pastor attending Biola from Viet Nam under our “Operation: Firebrand” program, I asked him what Thanksgiving was like across the way in his war-torn country. He responded quickly, “Oh, we don’t have Thanksgiving Day in Viet Nam. You see, every day is thanksgiving there; we are thankful to God just to be alive.” It is such a little thing to us, that which we take for granted. Yet there’s not a one of us who cannot offer thanks to the Lord for His good ness here. “Bless the Lord, 0 my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his bene fits. Who forgiveth all thine iniqui ties: who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruc tion ; Who crowneth thee with lov ingkindness and tender mercies; Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed as the eagle’s.” Let us truly praise the Lord at all times!
12
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker