January 1926
T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
4
Satan. It is not difficult to criticize; any one can do that. But we are thinking of the young men who are that confronts them. . What is the remedy! Is there any! Yes, there is, but the price is the same that has always been demanded and hard to pay. Paul suggests it: “ I .jJ with Christ. Nevertheless I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” When one can hide behind the cross, there and there only is safety. This might seem to be an easy thing to do, but in reality—how hard! We must die daily, sometimes to things we love dearly. But it is worth trying and worth striving for. “ Seekest thou great things for thyself! Seek them not.” This, peril confronts not only the preacher and teacher, but it confronts us all. Even outside the pale of spiritual service, self-seeking fails to win the wreaths sought for, for it becomes distasteful to think- ing people. Prosperity is attended with peril in every walk of life, and we do well to heed the warning in the Word of God: “ Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall.” TH E G L IT TE R OF GOLD or TH E G L O R Y OF G OD Looking over the morning paper, our eyes fell upon an item of news to the effect that an estate valued at $47,763,508.00, left by a former U. S. Senator, had been filed for probate. The property was located in twelve different states. Of course, it will take years to settle this estate and by that time many now living will have gone to their eternal home. Sixty years ago there were not more than a dozen millionaires in this country. Now there are hundreds. Meditating upon this incident, we were led to con sider the solemn obligation resting upon those persons who are possessed of large fortunes. Both saint and sinner must be judged. There are degrees of punish ment for the unsaved for their failure to follow the command of the Lord “ Ye must be born again.” There are righteous rules of compensation for the saints in their use of talents and time in the saving of souls. But there is no evading the records written down in God’s account book for either saint or sinner. Both must face the issue. « Christian people often wish they had large means to use in.the Lord’s work, but with increased means and attainments come solemn consequences. The question which must be answered is “ How much owest thou my L ord !” Every acquirement of advantage is an asset for which God demands the tithes due unto Him. “ The gift of God is eternal life” given graciously from His loving heart but the glory of God is a definite demand from Him who gave the gift. He saves us. He keeps us. He places in our hands the orders for service. He will hold us to an exact account. No fair-minded man could take any excep tion to this rule. I f we sow sparingly, we will reap sparingly. If we sow bountifully we shall reap bounti fully. God will give every one according to their works. The principle is fully illustrated in the Parable of the Pounds. We are not to be jealous of others. We are not to covet the things which others have, bat we are to make full use of those gifts with which He
a year of prayer and personal work; of prayer for the minister, the missionaries, and all of God’s people; prayer for the millions dying without the message of salvation.’'* ,,, What say you t Send us a postal saying Yes! TH E PER IL O F PRO SPER ITY But few people can stand prosperity in any walk of life, and there is a special temptation to those who are forced into the limelight as leaders of organized social, civil, political and religious movements. Human nature never changes and never will. The story is as old as the story of Babel and its tower and the Babel slogan, “ Let us make us a name.” The sequel of Babel has been repeated over and oyer again down through the centuries in countries, cities and individuals. . Wfe are told by the scientists that there are influ ences emanating from the rays of light of tremendous power, and the “ lime-light” evidently has its potent power also, as illu s tra tion the history of Nebuchad nezzar : “ The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house o f the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?” (Daniel 4 :30 ). But the kingdom departed from Nebuchadnezzar and he spent seven years eating grass with the oxen so that he might learn the lesson of humility. Was it not so also with Herod: “ And upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration unto them. “ And the people gave a shout saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man. . . . “ And immediately the angel o f the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory; and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.” It is wonderful to be a child of God, an ambassador from Heaven’s court, His representative in a sin-cursed earth. It is a God-given privilege to be used of Him. Bilt He is a jealous God and His glory will He not give to another. In Christian service the tendency to court popularity has been used by Satan to spoil the lives of many men. This propensity is fatal when not recognized and fought to a finish. Many men have commenced in the service of the Lord with Christ-like humility. An open door in the hospital, jail or on the street would be welcomed and utilized and God would be glorified. But as time advanced and larger and larger audiences gathered to hear the message, the consciousness of “ pulpit ahility” and the power to sway the hearts of people enabled Satan to take the inherent sin of pride and insidiously use it to rob God of His glory. Now we know that, spiritual power is of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit can use a good voice and commanding personality and loves to do so. But when pride possesses such an one and puffs itself into prom inence, the heart of the Holy One is hurt. He is grieved. The power is not in the voice nor the words of men, no matter how choice these may be, but in the Spirit. And so we have seen, many times, a “ wonderful” message, humanly speaking, woefully meaningless as far as producing results was manifest. Whenever the “ I ” or the “ me” or “ mine” is prom inent, and the walk and gestures are studied with a view to attracting attention to the speaker, behind it all one can see—by the eye of faith—the smirk of
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker