give up a prejudice. God grant us the grace to sit at any man’s feet if we may learn the way of the Lord more perfectly! There is another way in which Jesus passes by in a visitation of blessing. He visits us daily in the privilege and possibility of KNOWING HIM BETTER. Remember how, when He came to the dwelling-place of the Emmaus disciples, “He made as though He would have gone further.” He did not force Himself upon them. He would have passed on but He longed to manifest Himself and must have been delighted when they constrained Him to tarry. Have we not, in the company o f one beloved, moved as though we would be going, while inwardly we hoped that we would be asked to re main? Jesus is passing by. He is a gentleman. He will not abide uninvited. If we are to know Him better, we must constrain Him. The deeper things of God pass on if we do not lay hold upon them. Jesus always makes as though He would go fur ther. He does not compel us; we must constrain Him. Yet He longs to abide as our Guest that He may become our Host as He did at Cana. He would sit at our table that we might sit at His; He would sup with us that we may sup with Him. Jesus is passing by day 'by day and life’s greatest privilege is to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suf ferings. Let us buy up the opportunity! If a little of God’s grace makes us as happy as it does, why do not we want all we can get? Some have been Christians for years and yet know Christ but little more than at the start. We ought to make our supreme concern to know Him and to make Him known. We waste enough time on trivia to gain a working knowledge of the Bible. We miss enough daily opportunities of prayer, meditation, witness ing, to make mature Christians of us, yet we are babes on milk when we should be on meat. It takes time to know God. This age of aspirin tablets and stomach ulcers does not lend itself to the deeper life. Very few are interested in it. At most we are so busy with the good that we miss the best. Jesus is passing by but He makes as though He would go further. Let us avail ourselves of the time o f His visitation! This closer walk is the other side o f revival. In fact, if we attended to this, we should not need revival. Most Christians and churches need a periodic stirring up but it should not and need not be so. God never meant that His people should live by fits and starts in an up-and-down experience. Some husbands and wives live that way with alternate spells of quar reling and making up again. How much better is that steady and constant companionship, not per fect, but faithful and dependable day by day! With churches on every corner, why should we have to have a special reviving every year?
If we walked with God and kept up to date with Him in our hearts, we should never need to call in a preacher to get us back to normal. True re vival is simply normal New Testament Christian ity, not an occasional religious spree. Enoch did not need a “ revival” every year to keep him going. If we had a daily “ vival,” we should not need a yearly revival. Let us walk as children of light and we shall not need to be awakened every now and then. Let us cultivate spiritual health all the time and we shall need no spiritual shots in the arm at any time. Finally, Jesus is passing by in salvation and men do not know the time o f their visitation. Now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation. “ Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near.” That verse clearly indicates that there will come a time when He may not be found, a day when He will not be near. To the woman at Jacob’s well, Jesus said, “ IF THOU KNEWEST the gift of God and who it is that saith unto thee, Give me to drink, thou would- est have asked of Him and He would have given thee living water.” If only you knew the Gift and the Giver! Today men seek satisfaction at broken cisterns that can hold no water while our Saviour says, “ If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.” To Thomas He said, “ IF YE HAD KNOWN ME, ye should have known my Father also.” To day men say “God is nowhere” but through Christ, we who believe can say “God is now here” ! Philip said, “ Lord, shew us the Father and it sufficeth us.” Our Lord said, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” For He is Emmanuel, God with us. “ IF THOU KNEWEST” . . . “ IF YE HAD KNOWN ME.” Today Jesus is passing in salvation in a visitation of grace. There is coming a day when He will visit us in judgment. God help us to know the day of our visitation! A certain king liked to visit his subjects in cognito, dressed as one o f them. One day a stranger appeared at the home of a peasant, was rudely treated and presently departed. Soon another peas ant hurried over to that home. “What did the King give to you?” he eagerly inquired. “ The King?” asked the puzzled man who had treated his guest so badly. “Yes, the King. He came from your house to mine, gave me his blessing and left a present!” From then on the wretched peasant who had spurned his guest could only say, “ If only I had known it was the King!” The King passes among us today. Shame on us if we know not the time o f our visitation! ‘‘Pass me not, O gentle Saviour, Hear my humble cry; While on others Thou art calling, Do not pass me by.” B e ]
DECEMBER, 1967
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