It is our wretched habit of toler ating sin that keeps us in our half-dead condition. 5. Make restitution wherever possible. If you owe a debt, pay it, or at least have a frank understanding with your creditor about your in tentions to pay, so that your hon esty will be above question. If you have quarreled with anyone, go as far as you can in an effort to achieve reconciliation. As fully as possible make the crooked thing straight. 6. Bring your life into accord with the Sermon on the Mount and such other New Testament Scriptures as are designed to in struct us in the way o f righteous ness. An honest man with an open Bible and a pad and pen is sure to find out what is wrong with him very quickly. I recommend that the self-examination be made on our knees, rising to obey God’s commandments as they are re vealed to us from the Word. There is nothing romantic or colorful about this plain downright way of dealing with ourselves, but it gets the work done. Isaac’s work men did not look like heroic fig ures as they digged in the valley, but they got the wells open, and that was what they had set out to do. 7. Be serious-minded. You can well afford to see few er comedy shows on TY. Unless you break away from the funny boys, every spiritual impression will continue to be lost to your heart, and that right in your own living room. The people of the world used to go to the movies to escape serious thinking about God and religion. You would not join them there, but you now enjoy spiritual communion with them in your own home. The devil’s ideals, moral stand ards, and mental attitudes are be ing accepted by you without your knowing it. You wonder why you can make no progress in your Christian life. Your interior cli mate is not favorable to the growth of spiritual graces. There THE KING'S BUSINESS
Christian Maturity Feature
FORMULA
for a burning heart by A. W. Tozer
I h a v e p r e v i o u s l y said that any Christian who desires to may experience a radical spiritual re nascence, and this altogether in dependent o f the attitude of his fellow Christians. The important question now is How? Well, here are some sug gestions which anyone can follow and which, I am convinced, will result in a wonderfully improved Christian life. 1. Get thoroughly dissatisfied with yourself. Complacency is the deadly en emy of spiritual progress. The contented soul is the stagnant soul. When speaking o f earthly goods, Paul could say, “ I have learned . . . to be content” ; but when referring to his spiritual life, he testified, “press toward the mark.” Stir up the gift of God that is in thee. 2. Set your face like a flint toward a sweeping transforma tion o f your life. T im id exp e r im en te rs are tagged for failure before they
start. We must throw our whole soul into our desire for God. “The kingdom of heaven suffereth vio lence, and the violent take it by force.” 3. Put yourself in the way of the blessing. It is a mistake to look for grace to visit us as a kind of benign magic, or to expect God’s help to come as a windfall apart from conditions known and met. There are plainly marked paths which lead straight to the green pas tures ; let us walk in them. To de sire revival, for instance, and at the same time to neglect prayer and devotion is to wish one way and walk another. 4. Do a thorough job of repent ing. Do not hurry to get it over with. Hasty repentance means shallow spiritual experience and lack of certainty in the whole life. Let godly sorrow do her heal ing work. Until we allow the con sciousness o f sin to wound us, we will never develop a fear o f evil.
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