Conformity to ourselves, even otir better selves, can lead only to ultimate tragedy
Christ is the Pattern
R eligion correctly assumes the fluidity of human nature. It assumes t h a t t h e human character is in flux and can be directed into prechosen channels leading to desired ends. Could human nature be shown to be static, religion would instant ly lose most of its meaning. For the one thing that religious per sons want most is to be changed, to be made over from what they are into something they desire to be. The Christian faith takes for granted that men should be and can be changed, and the change it sets before them is so radical as to amount to a moral transforma tion. The message of Christ lays hold upon a man with the inten tion to alter him, to mold him again after another image and make of him something altogether different from what he had been before. “ Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind” is the in junction laid upon believing men by the apostle. Now , granted that men may be changed and that the power of God in the gospel can change them, t h e i m p o r t a n t question naturally is, into what image are they to be changed? W h o or what is to be the model for them? To this question there have been m any answers given. The quasi- Christian religious philosophy so
by various harmful influences, be ginning at the time o f its birth or before. The whole burden of this type of religious thinking is to restore the man to an image o f himself. A ll he needs is to be made into his own likeness again, to become “ a real person,” free from the warping influences o f prejudice, fear and superstition. H e was all right to begin with, as were his ancestors before him, and his high est present goal is to be restored, like a damaged painting, so that the hand of the master m ay again be discovered under the soil and grime of life. A ll this sounds just cozy but the trouble is that the underlying idea is completely false, and all the religious hopes and dreams arising from it are and must be without foundation. The message o f the New Testa ment is bluntly opposite to this. People are not all right except for minor maladjustments. Th ey are lost, inwardly lost, morally and spiritually lost. That has been the p e r s i s t e n t Christian testimony from the first and human history has shown how correct it is. There is nothing in us that can serve as a model for the new man. Con form ity to ourselves, even our better selves, can lead on ly to ultimate tragedy. T h e h u m a n heart is deceitful above all things
popular today answers that there is a “ norm ” somewhere in human nature from which w e have de parted to a greater or lesser degree and to which we must be restored. So religion is brought in to aid in the restoration. It operates by “ adjusting” the inquiring soul, first to himself and then to society. Everything depends upon this work of adjustment. Human na ture, so runs the theory, is basi cally right and good, but it has been put out of focus by the world stresses in which it is compelled to live. It has been warped by environment, by bad teaching and
w hat does it matter if external circumstances are hard? The A lm ighty God is ours in the Lord Jesus. And He w ill tax the last grain of sand and the re motest star to bless us if we will obey Him. — Oswald Chambers
46
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs