THE K I N G ’ S BUS I NESS
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“ Patience.” Is any Christian grace more needed by Christians than this? How easily we get impatient, “ put out” we call it. We lack poise. We have so many things to do, and so little time to do them in, that we work under an incessant strain, and the least interrup tion upsets us. It is quite possible to make haste and yet not to hurry. See the following pasages of Scripture for the important place occupied by pati ence, and note with whom we are to be patient, for what we are to be patient, and why we are to be patient: Psalm 37:7; Luke 21:19; Rom. 2:7; 5:3, 4; 8:25; 15:4; 2 Cor. 6:4; Col. 1:11; 1 Thess. 1:3; 2 Thess. 1:4; 3:5; Heb. 6:12-15; 10:36; 12:1; James 1:3, 4; 5:7-10; Rev. 1:9; 2:2; 13:10; 14:12. “ Godliness.” The Christian’s patience grows not out of mere indifference, or stoicism; but out of our real union with God. It is not negative, but positive. Godliness is God-likeness. The Chris tian’s goal is God-likeness. See Psalm 17:15; 1 John 3:1, 2. Sanctification is but. the process of accomplishing this. For this were we called. See 1 Peter 1 : 2 . “ Brotherly kindness.” Christians dif fer from each other in many ways— birth, upbringing, education, earthly possessions, etc., but all real Christians have this in common-Hthey are children of God, members of His family, brothers in Christ Jesus who is Himself their “ elder brother.” And the kindness of one Christian to another springs out of this relationship. “ Brother” on the lips is a farce if “ brother” is not in the heart, also. “ Charity.” “ Love” is a better trans lation of the Greek word agapee than “ charity.” The best exposition of love in action is the inspired one given in First Corinthians, chapter 13. “ The greatest of these is love.” Study it. Test your own life by it, and ask your pupils to test their lives by it. And read also Ephesians 3:14-18.
This lesson Is full of practical truths suitable for classes of all ages. If you want a simple outline, here it is: The Passover Feast
The Perplexed Parents, The Profound Scholars The Patient .Son
Under these heads you will be able to gather all of the lesson. If you want to make the lesson THE HEART illustrative, you can OF THE take as your theme LESSON “ The Divine Order o f Development in the Life of a Child of God.” Take verse 40 as the foundation, “ The child grew and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.” This gives you the heart of the lesson. Thirty years of the life of the greatest man that has ever lived are compressed into fifty-two short verses in the great est Book ever written. What a wonder ful Book is this Bible! Would not any honest, fair-minded man who would give a little thought to this Word of God be compelled to admit that the silences of the Bible prove its divine origin? Take the story of Jesus: In the man ger, a new-born babe; in the arms of Simeon when a month old; in the Tem ple, at the age of twelve. Where was He, what had He been doing,, all these years? What about the trip to Egypt? What kind of a boy was He? Where was He during the succeeding eighteen years? No man ever conceived such a story. The, Roman Catholic church has invented stories of the miracles of His boyhood days, but they are not in the Bible. The Book says He gi;ew, waxed strong, was filled with wisdom, and God’s grace was upon Him, and that is the key to His wonderful life,__He grew. He grew naturally, normally. You can readily imagine Him at twelve years of age when He became a Jewish citizen, tarrying at thè temple. He had been taught the law of God. He had had
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