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T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
October, 1935
o f your life and see how star-studded they are with blessings which you forget at first I Besides all these gifts, there are many things which God sends or permits as “ blessings in disguise.” I read recently o f a young Indian girl who thanked God that she was stricken with tuberculosis, for it was in the sanitarium that she found Jesus Christ as her Saviour. I heard o f a widowed mother who praised God for poverty, fo r thereby she had learned o f His great faithfulness. In how many appar ent disappointments, sorrows, ■tragedies, losses in your own life, have you— because o f having been “exercised thereby”— found a blessing? In Luke 8 :26-39, we read o f one life which felt and recognized its debt to the Lord Jesus Christ. The freed man loved his Liberator, and longed to be with Him. But Jesus said: '.“ Return to thine own house, and show how great things God hath done unto thee.” O f the man we rea d : “And he went his way, and published throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto him.” It is well to note the two verbs u sed : “published”— “told forth,”’iand “ show”-—by actions and life. Shall we do less than this man did? Suggestions on Daily Readings I. A n O p e n H o u se (A c ts .16:15) The word here translated “ faithful” might better be rendered “ o f faith.” Thus, Lydia is really saying, “ Since you have (Judged me o f faith— a believer in the Lord — come into my house.” What a wonder-? fui household that must have been—that first Christian h om e 'in Europèi What high and holy themes o f conversation these young believers must have conducted, with Paul as their teacher ! W hy did Lydia open her home in this manner ? She had become a member of the “household o f faith,” and she felt a per petual, exhaustless debt o f love— love to God and love to fellow believers. From the day, centuries before Paul’s: 'missionary jo u r n e y , w h e n A b r a h a m welcomed the three strangers to his tent, onward throughout the Old and New Test aments, we see the evidences o f hospitality. Paul repeatedly urges the duty o f “ com municating to the necessities o f the saints,” o f exercising “hospitality one to another without murmuring,” o f being “ given to hospitality.” Love such as is here described is not a passing emotion, but a true gift from God, made possible only in and through the Lord. Have we stopped to thank God for Christian homes? II. A poet has said, “ There are hermit souls that live withdrawn In the place o f their self-content; There are souls, like stars, that dwell apart In a fellowless firmament.” But as Christians, Paul tells us, we are mutually related one to the other— be cause we are related to Jesus Christ. He says that, as believers, we are united in “ one body in Christ.” The body o f Christ in this age is the church (cf. Eph. 1 :22, 23; Col. 1:18, 24). Every believer is a member o f that mystical body (1 Cor. T h e C h u r c h -(Rom . 12:5)
12:27; Eph. 4 : 15, 16). You may be a hand, a foot, a voice, a heart: a hand through which Jesus Christ may minister in tender ness ; a foot with which H e may walk this earth and visit needy souls; a voice through which He may speak a word o f cheer or peace or encouragement; a heart through which H is own love may flow “to love the loveless into loveliness,” as Henry Frost describes this outflow o f divine love. Ought we not to thank God for this high privilege? He could have chosen to min ister only through angelic hosts— and yet He chooses you and me 1 III. C h r is t ia n F e ll o w sh ip (1 John 1 :3, 7) The fellowship o f which John writes is, first o f all, vertical— “ with the Father,” and then horizontal—-‘‘one with another.” Thank God for such fellowship! It over flows with jo y ! Paul had many wonderful friends (cf. Rom. 16), and he thanked God for his friends (Phil. 1 :3). Oh yes, some forsook him, as Demas, but there were others who were faithful, helping, encouraging, min istering. “ God is light.” An old couplet truly says':'-'' Is your pathway filled with darkness? W alk in fellowship— in obedient fellowship —with God, and the darkness will dis appear “ in the light o f His glory and grace.” Thank H im for the promised in crease o f light (cf. Prov. 4:18). IV . W ork to D o ¡¿ (J o h n 9 :4) 1 . “ Lord, help me,” so we pray. “ Help me my work to d o ; I am so ignorant and w eak; Make me more wise and true.” “ Lord, help me do Thy work,” W e pray when wiser grown, When on the upward way Our feet have farther gone. “ Lord, do Thy work through me” ; So—when all self we lose, H is doing and His work, and we The tools His hand can use. — A n n ie J o h n s o n F l in t . 2 . It is lamentable that we should live so long a time in the world and do so little for God.—D. L. M oody . Fear God and work hard. — D avid L iv in g st o n e . Only one life ; it will soon be past; Only what is done for Christ will last. — S elected . “ Light obeyed, increaseth ligh t; Light resisted, bringeth night.” The Alpine shepherds have a beautiful custom o f ending the day by singing to one another an evening farewell. The air is so crystalline that the song will carry long distances. As the dusk begins to fall, they gather their flocks and begin to lead them down the mountain paths, singing, “ Hither to hath the Lord helped us. Let us praise H is nam e!” And at last with a sweet courtesy, they sing to one another the friendly farew ell: “ G oodnight! Goodnight!” The words are taken up by the echoes, and from side to Illustrations for the Leader I. E v e n in g P r aise
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