THE FRUSTRATION OF FEAR Sometimes our souls are built on al together too shallow and flimsy a foun dation. When the rains of adversity and the storms of trials beat down upon us, our outlook sometimes is shattered into complete oblivion. An interesting story of the old West tells of a traveler who was attacked by bandits one night. After robbing him, they tied a rope to the limb of a huge tree. They made the fellow take hold of it, as he sat on his horse. Then they scared away the horse and gave the fellow a push out into the darkness. They told him that he was swinging over a great abyss, a very deep and rocky chasm. The tree was at the edge of the precipice. He was re minded that if he let go, he would be dashed to pieces on the rocks below. Mercilessly the thieves rode away, leav ing the poor fellow to certain destruc tion. He was filled with horror at the thought of his impending doom. There was no use to call for help. No one was around. Besides, he needed the strength to hang on. He clutched desperately to the rope. As the moments wore on, his strength began to ebb. His hands started■ slipping. He was powerless any longer and finally had to let go. He fell, and what a drop! It wasn’t a hundred feet or more to the rocks below, but actually only a scant six inches to the solid ground. The robbers had fooled him. In the darkness of the night, they had created a false picture in his mind. Although the danger didn’t exist, he was filled with fear because he didn’t know what was there. So in the dark
ness of life the question may come to our hearts: “To what will we cling when death seems so near, when sickness robs us of strength, when loved ones treat us unkindly, when family members cause us to have problems and difficul ties?” Let go of the rope of self and fall into the everlasting arms of our gracious Saviour’s love! The old hymn has it right, “Safe in the arms of Jesus, safe on His gentle breast. There by His love o’ershadowed, sweetly my soul shall rest.” SELECTING STYLES It’s pretty hard for most of us to believe, much less understand, some of the weird styles of the day. Supposedly these are determined in Paris and even tually are picked up by fashion-con scious people in the United States. Men’s fashion designs are pretty ridicu lous as well. Thè Bible has some inter esting things to say about the way we should dress as Christians. Peter re minds us that it is not the outward adorning that’s important but rather what we put on in the heart. He calls them “the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit.” A woman once asked the theo logian and hymn-writer John Newton what he felt was the best rule for feminine dress and behavior. He replied solemnly and very pointedly, “Madam, 23 When one indulges in a sin, he is actually inviting a sorrow.
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