September, 1941
TH E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
831
Around the King's Table LOUIS T. TALBOT, Editor-In-Chief
“ MY Peace” “MY peace 1 give unto you” (John 14:27). What is this peace-which the Saviour distinguished from every kind of peace that men pursue in the world? ,What do men want more than peace? Individually and nationally, men are constantly in the- search for some secret of peace. There is a sort of tranquillity —a lessening of friction—which men find by accommodating themselves to the world, adjusting themselves to cir cumstances or repeating some shibboleth devised to take the mind off the dis turbing things. Some find what they call peace by denying the reality of sin, sickness, death, or annoying situa tions. Others seek peace by giving full est gratification to their desires or in the comfort of plenty and pleasure. Nationally, we fight wars to secure peace. We arrive at an armistice which appears to be an opportunity to find peace. But meanwhile, war has sown so much bitterness and propagated so much prejudice, that it is but a matter of a short time before men are again at one another’s throats. All man’s schemes to devise peace are delusive. A soft couch cannot give ease to a fever-wracked body. Real restfulness must be produced from with in. There can be no enduring peace for any person until he has satisfaction with his inward state. How can such peace be found? “MY peace” Is something the Lord Jfesus Christ offered the world, and It is to this hour something that admits no comparison. Contemplate the story of His life. He was at peace whether on mountain top or in the storm on the lake. He was at peace as He taught by the sea, at peace when He was hooted by the mob. He was at peace with His disciples in the upper room and at peace in the judgment hall with the mob shout ing “Crucify him.” He was at peace at the Joyous marriage feast, and at the grave of Lazarus. "MY peace” ! And that same serenity He had in dan ger, in sorrow, and in all kinds of trying circumstances is the peace He says we can have. How is it communicated? “Come unto me,” He said, ". . . and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). That is “peace with God”—justification—re moval of the .burden of guilt through the work of reconciliation wrought at the cross (Rom. 5:1). That is the founda tion of peace,
But, He continued: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, . . . and ye shall find rest unto your souls” (Matt 11:29). This is "the peace of God, which passeth all understanding”—the result of making Christ the solution of every problem through prayer (Phil. 4:7). This secret of peace—for every situation—He has given to His own, and His Repre sentative, the Holy Spirit, communicates it and makes it real. —Keith L. Brooks. Tact and Contact Christian workers, eager to witness for their Lord and Master, must ever remember the connection-between “tact” and Vcontact,” Some there are who do not want for contacts. Scores of oppor tunities come their way for the winning of souls for Christ, but want of tact makes many a contact fruitless. On the other hand, a soul-winner with God- given tact will gather the utmost good from the most casual' contact with a lost soul. Christians should pray for a gracious spirit in dealing with others. T. T. Shields tells of an elderly ac quaintance of his who was leading devo tional exercises in a large denomination al convention. During his prayer, he be came most practical: “Lord, give us tact —not tacks, Lord, but tact.” Tacks serve a useful purpose when rightly employed. But in the most delicate Work of witnessing for Christ, we have to guard against being tack-like—too short and sharp and pointed. The Gospels reveal how tactful the Lord Jesus was in dealing with the needy. For example, He met the woman at the well on her own level of under standing. To have broken in upon her thinking1, aii at once, with the exalted truth of spiritual worship, would only
have baffled her mind. She had come to draw water, and Jesus Christ started right there. "Give me to drink,” He said. And on He went, coming quickly to-His message regarding the well of living wa ter within the heart. Many a soul fails to be won for Christ because of the unwise, tactless approach of some overzealous Christian worker. It has been said that if we would “win some one, we must be winsome.” None of us is without daily contacts. We have them wherever we may live and labor. Studying our contacts, however, let us pray for tactfulness as we seek to make the utmost of an opportunity of reaching others with the gospel. If, as the Oxford Dictionary expresses it, “tact is the delicate perception of the right thing to do or say, adroitness in dealing with others or with difficul ties due to personal feeling,” then, if we would be effective in dealing in spir itual matters, we shall have to look away from ourselves to the Lord Him self. Lacking necessary wisdom, we have only to ask God for it, and as James 1:5 states, a liberal portion will be granted. “ No Peace Without Power” In the last issue of Fortune maga zine, devoted to the one subject of “total war for the United States,” a section was given to a particularly striking display of posters. Whether or not one agrees with the purposes to be achieved by these interest-compelling drawings, there is no doubt about their forcefulness. “No Peace Without Power” was the bold white-lettered caption across two pictures: one of a mother frantically clasping a child in the shadow of an ominous onrushing missile of war; and the other of a woman confidently hold ing a laughing child while abdve them fly the protective planes of their nation. The conception of “peace” that was in the artist’s mind was, of course, a national and international enjoyment of the cessation- of war. How the world longs for peace! In a striving after it, men are warned on every side that if the power of the invader is to be warded off, there must be a tremendous in crease of national defenses. To get this idea into the minds and h e a r t s of citizens, thousands of dollars are will ingly spent. One could wish that some such eon-
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