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T H E K I N Í G ’ S B U S I N E S S
“He that loseth his life for my sake shall find it” (Matthew 10:39). E HE deepest need of many Christians today is to ing too fine a distinction herí?, we may add that the crowd which has been so deceived by the world gets most atten tion from evangelistic preachers. I recall hearing a minis ter say he used to preach a lot on bobbed hair, but the longer he preached the shorter it got, so he stopped. It is easy to fall into the mistake of centering our fire on two or three worldly sins, such as theater-going, card-playing and dancing. Certainly there is a necessity for messages with no uncertain sound along these lines. I have never yet seen a Spirit-filled, soul-winning Christian who did these things, and I never expect to. But we may well reserve some of our ammunition for sins of the flesh. I do not mean adultery and other gross immoralities, although these do take their toll among believers, but there is a more subtle “sin of the saints” that gets scant attention. It has been said that "flesh” is “self” spelled backwards, with the “h” left out: I here refer to the sin of selfishness under its many disguises. Among Christians today are those who would never think of going to the movies, dancing or playing cards, but whose selfishness in various forms is a reproach to the cause of Christ, a burden to their family and friends, and a grief to the Holy Spirit. It is claimed that a man wrapped in himself is the world’s smallest pack age. Surely sin comes in that kind of a parcel in many a life. Our Lord had this in mind when He referred to “children in the marketplace,” and to His own gener ation who cared neither for John nor Jesus, but found fault with everything and could not be pleased. Our generation has grown up, pampered at home, and coddled at school, with silly notions about allowing children and students to do much as they pleased. The results are written large all about us. A mother told her new nurse, “Now I am letting the baby grow up on the new methods. Give him whatever he wants.” Later she heard the baby yell. She called upstairs to the nurse: “Give him what he wants!” “He done got it,” the nurse replied, "it was a humble-bee!’” We have
been getting what we wanted for years and we have been stung. Such a condition among Christians is due to the fact that they neither know nor practice the Bible truth that not only were our past sins taken care of in the death of Christ, but that our self-life too was crucified with Him. God says it is so, and we are to reckon it so, and ourselves dead to sin and the world. We are now risen in newness of life in Christ to Jive unto Him, and not to please ourselves. This truth is well-known in theory among Bible Christians; it has been drummed-into our minds and written in our notebooks at Bible conferences, in Bible believing churches and over the radio. But the fruits of it in practical personal living are woefully short. This selfishness of the saints, sometimes glorified under false colors, is the distress of pastors, the headache and heartache of earnest believers, and the greatest single obstacle in the way of revival. Self-Expression Many and diverse are the forms under which self expresses itself. Sometimes churlishness and bad temper turn one into a Nabal, a son of Belial, with whom others cannot get along. Sometimes self-pity, or the martyr complex with all the miseries of an ingrown personality, makes one demand the center of attention in the household. Often it is peevishness and a childish “wori’t-play-if-I-can’t-have-my-way” spirit, and what a plague that can be in a church! Sometimes it assumes a bombastic, self-assertive, dominating attitude that rides rough-shod over everybody and furnishes us church dic tators and religious Napoleons. Self shows up in peren nial chips-on-the-shoulder from the blocks above! Others with nervous ailments make the rounds of resorts and psychiatrists if they can afford it, and perhaps Bible meetings, willing to do anything but admit the real trouble, and honestly face it by the grace of God. There are many today who have real trouble and greatly need comfort, but there are others who are just living for self. God must perform an operation before they can be healed. To try to heal them without bringing them face to face with the real issue is like spreading cold cream on cancers. Our Lord has the only cure for these overgrown babies who keep others busy with milk bottles when (Continv&i m Page 375)
get into God’s "Lost and Found Department.” In these perilous times, many saints are being mis led by the world, the flesh and the devil. Without draw
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