picnic, we all know what a race course is. The Philippians were fa miliar with this sport. Paul used it as an analogy to the Christian life. We know that certain attitudes are essential. Have you ever thought that dissatisfaction is the first step toward spiritual progress? Paul says, "I count not myself to have apprehended" (Philippians 3:13). He was not dissatisfied with his material or physical position but rather with his moral and spir itual progress. It was only because someone became dissatisfied with living in a cave that today we live in houses. So it is with everything we have. If the world had not be come dissatisfied with the horse and buggy we would not be driv ing cars or riding in airplanes to day. If there is no dissatisfaction spiritually there will never be any progress. The important thing is not the victories we have already won but what still needs to be done. If we dwell on the blessings we have al ready received, there will be little incentive to reach out for the mul titude which are still to be claimed. If we relax after we have won one soul, we will never win a score of souls. We must focus our atten tion upon what still needs to be accomplished. The second word is obliteration. The Apostle declared, "Forgetting those things which are behind." There is a sense in which memory can keep us humble before Cod. There is another very real sense in which it can also impede our progress in the future. Repentance of sin is one thing while repining over sin is another. If God forgets how much more should you and I? Progress on the race course de- Page 21
The second way you can know someone is by virtue of a formal introduction. Most of our acquain tances are of this type. It is a cas ual relationship. There are some people who, when they say, "I know Cod through Christ," mean, "I have been introduced to God. I know who Christ is." Perhaps one hour a week, at a certain place in the city, they stop to tip their hats in the direction of Cod. To many that is really all Christianity is. But this is not what the Bible means when it says that a man can know God. The last way is to know some body intimately. A man knows his wife in this manner. This knowl edge involves feeling, sympathy, understanding. It is the kind of friendship that stems not from an introduction, but from a long pe riod of close communion. This is what Paul meant when he declared, "That I may know Him." It is not so much a knowledge of the head as it is of the heart. A Christian who thus knows the Lord can sing, "And He walks with me and He talks with me And He tells me I am His own. And the joy we share as we tarry there, None other has ever known." When I got up this morning the first thing I did was to talk to Cod. He was right there with me. Do you know Him in this way? The robe of the missionary is "not his goodness, but Christ's godliness!" The Attitude Whether you have actually com peted in a miracle mile, or simply run a three-legged contest against your neighbors at a Sunday school
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