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THE KING’S BUSINESS
calling is on the sea; one whose business is fishing, not merely one who fishes as a matter of sport. Every true follower of Jesus will make fishing for men the busi ness of his life. Are you a follower of Jesus? Friday, January 8. Matthew 5:1-12. Jesus here points out eight classes of men whom God pronounces happy. They are not at all those whom the world esteems happy. Indeed they are in part just those whom the world esteems most unfortunate, but time has justified and eternity will more abundantly justify the declaration of Christ. The first class whom Jesus pronounces happy are the “poor in spirit,” i. e., those who recognize their poverty and their need and their spiritual destitution. The kingdom of heaven is 'open to them. The good of this present age belongs to the self-as sertive, the self-esteemed: the good of the coming age belongs to the self-renouncing and self-abhorring. The door of the king dom- is open to those who realize their utter moral poverty and humble themselves in the dust. Next we learn that deep sorrbw is one of the greatest benedictions of the life that now is. Those who have learned to know the deeper joys that are in Christ Jesus have been led into them through great heartaches. Many never saw any beauty in Christ until they looked at Him through the tears that fell on the cold face of a child, mother, wife or husband. Next we learn that the meek (i. e., the humble and gentle and mild, as distinguished from the domineering, contentious and harsh) in herit the earth. It will be a happy day for the earth when they enter into their in heritance ! One of the most cheering of all the beatitudes is that of verse 6. One grand word describes what awaits all that “hunger •and thirst after righteousness,” that one word is “ filled ." The vision of God is the supreme blessedness that is open to men. God is the personal embodiment of infinite beauty and infinite glory; so there can be no joy or rapture beyond that of beholding
Him, but this supreme, blessedness of seeing God is open to but one class, “the pure in heart” The heart blinded by sin cannot see, above all it cannot see Him. Saturday, January 9. Matthew 5 :13-16. Our lesson today is very short, but it is very full. The opening verses of this chap ter have emphasized our blessedness; these verses emphasize our responsibility and ob ligations. Believers in Christ are to be “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world.” The office of salt is to flavor and cleanse and preserve from decay. It is one of the most useful articles in the world, but if the salt loses its virtue, nothing is more useless. Its virtue cannot be restored, and it is of no use for food, for the land, nor even for a fertilizer. It is “good for noth ing.” All that can be done with it is to “cast it out” into the road and let it be “trodden under foot of men.” So it is with the professed believer in Christ when he loses the savor of godliness and the pre servative power of life in the Spirit. What a wretched “outcast” a savorless Christian is, and how men delight to tramp over him! But Christ’s disciple is not merely “the salt of the earth,” he is also “the light of thè world.” Primarily, Jesus Himself is the Light of the World (John 8:12), but what He is in Himself, He also makes His dis ciples to be by coming to live in them and shine through them. It is a glorious thought, but it is also a very solemn thought, that the world gets all its light through us. How careful we ought to be that the globe through which the light shines shall not be smoked up by sin, and thus obscure the light ! There is a very dark spot somewhere in the world that you ought to illuminate. Are you doing it? The more light we receive from Jesus Him self the more we will give forth to others. Let us therefore get the very utmost that we can. It is by our “good works” that we give light. Our aim in these good works should not be that men should glorify us, but our Father in Heaven, for He is the real worker.
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