126
T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
and steel. Of what value is human life in a world of total war? Look at the cross. There God is saying: “This is the worth of a human soul to Me.” A friend wrote to me to tell of the loss of his boy. He had been over Germany in his bomber, and the ene my got him at last. What happened to him is too horrible to contemplate. He was the -parents’ only son, a re fined, gentlemanly Christian lad. How much they loved him! A ll their faith and hope was in that boy; they va l ued him above their own lives, and yet in their deep sorrow and loss they remembered that Jesus valued him above His own life—and they saw it all at the cross. A New Standard of Values The cross, again, indicates the sweep of Christ’s work on behalf of men. “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things”—that is, all things He deems needful. • This war has made us all realize the vital difference between the es sentials and the nonessentials of life. “It was wonderful to feel gloriously free from things," was the remark of a dear Christian who had been de prived of everything in a bombing raid. Many trusting souls have learned afresh to hold lightly to earthly valu ables; and to prepare to lose all but the spiritual, eternal realities; thus the latter have become increasingly precious. In these days when nothing of earth counts for much, it is heart ening to know that when God gave His only begotten Son-to die on Cal vary’s cross, He gave Himself, and everything is included in that gift. The Christ who bears our sins away, carries our cares also. The One who died lor us, feels for us. The cross encompasses all our needs in its wide sweep, because He who gave the greater gift „ cannot refuse the less. In the words of the poet Kirkham we may say: I know, dear Xord, that all my needs Are ever known to Thee: That every trial, sorrow, care, Calls forth Thy sympathy. Yea, by the cross Thou bidst me come, I come, dear Lord, today; And know that cs I on Thee trust, My cares shall pass away. Yes, that is the secret of peace amid war. Come to the cross, dear friends. Freedom from care, the quiet joy of burdens lifted, the rest and peace of God settled in your soul, can all be yours a3 you put your tr“ Jt boldly and confidently in the crucified and risen Saviour.
and bears it 'in His own heart and life. Here are a few instances in which this truth is clearly shown. A friend of mine, a professional man, had built up a fine business on' Guernsey Island. He had a lovely home» in a house built to his-own de sign. He had made a hobby of clocks, and his house vas a miniature mu seum of timepieces of all types. Sud denly he had to leave it all—business, house, home, clocks, motor car, every thing—and come over to live in an already overcrowded land and find some means of livelihood when his profession was closed down for the duration. Try to imagine how he must have felt. But he stood up to it. He found consolation and strength at the cross. A minister I know survived the en tire destruction of his home. Furniture which had spelled home to him for years; a library, the result of a life time of selection; sermon notes and studies which necorded years df dili gent study of the Word; personal ef fects of value because of the mem ories they recalled—all, everything except the clothes he stood up in, and the contents of his pockets,' all was gone, ,gone in a night. Nevertheless, he went on preaching —for the comfort of -the cross was a well at which he had drunk deeply himself. When bombs were falling one night, a mother clasped her darling girlie and rushed into the cupboard under the stairs. The little one nestled closely to the bosom of her mother. Presently she whispered: “Mummy, I can hear your heart beating.” Many a dear saint of God has heard the divine heart beats as death and destruction have been all around. The cross, moreover, proves how much value God puts upon a human soul. War makes us callous of men and women. We hear, of thousands dy ing, and we do not turn a hand. Our fine young men don the uniform of their country and go forth, often to have their bodies mangled by iron
the enemy planes droned overhead as the stars twinkled and the neighbors slept—these and many other of the experiences of total war call for the comfdrt and security of the cross. I claim to have had published one of the first war books. It was entitled: How to Live Calmly in War Time. It was a series of meditations calcu lated to quiet the heart in the time of danger and crisis. I wrote it several months before the war began, when I had no conception of what modern war would be like. Since those early days of ..apprehension a nd , strain, many of God’s people have come to •know what it is to find refuge in the Saviour of Calvary. The old divines used to say that the hill of Calvary was the hill of comfort; that the house of consola tion was built of the wood of the cross. It would seem at first glance as if the place where the Son of God was cru cified, the place of callous brutality, of calculated injustice, of shameful ignominy and torturous agony would be the last place where consolation in sorrow and distress could be found. It is nevertheless .true that tortured souls all down the Christian cen turies have soothed their stricken souls at the foot of the cross. Through all the depths of sin and ' loss, Drops the plummet of thé cross; Never yet abyss was found, Deeper than the cross could sound. Proof That God Cares The cross proves that God cares. A great theologian once said that .“ only the cross can assert eternal provi dence and justify the ways of God with men.” Those wfto are baffled and distraught by the tragedies of war should see this message in the cross —God cares. God cares for you enough to die for you in the Person of His only begotten Son on Calvary’s cross. No matter how horrible, how terrible your trouble and anguish, Jesus steps down into it
Salvation Is for YOU
The Need —Personal “ The heart is deceitful . . . desperatelyl wicked” (Jer. 17:9). The Way— rChrist “ I am the way . . . no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). The Method —Acceptance “ Come unto me . . . and you? soul shall live” (Isa. 55:3). The Time —Present “ Now is the day of salvation” (2 Cer. 6:2). The Future —Eternal qfpr God . . . gave his only . . . 3cn, that whosoever believeth in him should . . . have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
t
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs