ty if you will surrender yourself com pletely to Him. Here is a New Year, pure and spotless. How are we going to use it? God checks constantly. He has absolute knowledge of everything, even our thoughts. His records are accurate. We must all give an account to Him. Our pay check will be ready when He sees fit to close our account. When we receive it, will we blush with shame or glow with pride? “ Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give to every man ac cording as his work shall be.”
Cjod, the lijew 'IJecu^and Xjou
By Callie M. Courts
T HINKING back over the year, I’m taking inventory as well as I can of my services, not to my earthly employer, but to my Heavenly Employer. Has my service deserved a bonus check from my Master? Have I put in overtime? In the sight of God what does my record re veal? God strikes His balance from day to day and it is always sure. Every second is accounted for by Him and every one of us must give an account of ourselves. When He draws His balances, closes our records, and hands us our checks, that 8 final. Listen to Revelation 22:12, “ Be hold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” In(the twelfth chapter of Romans, Paul beseeches us to present our bodies a living sacrifice. Have we surrendered ourselves vibrant and living for His use? Have we consecrated our own bodies, making them acceptable unto God which is “ our reasonable service” ? This is no more than a Christian should do and it is what God expects. We are not conformed to this world, but are, as it is stated in 1 Peter 1:14: “ as obedient children,” and 1 John 2:15, loving “ not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” We cannot serve God and mammon. We have no right to pledge ourselves to His service unless we mean it. Mere perfunctory attendance at the church ,is not enough. Let us not think we can “ get by” with God or with others. A Jewish woman recently converted to Christianity asked me why some peo ple who say that they are Christians never change. She said that she knew someone who went to church twice on Sunday and attended prayer meeting each week, yet remained in her daily living just as selfish and hateful as ever. “Why, how can she do it?” she asked. This convert is just one of many who is confused by our so-called professed Christianity. What does our ledger show? Have we allowed our thinking, conversation, amusements or anything to keep us away from our dutifes to God and our church? Paul wrote: “ There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:1). Do others desire to walk in our footsteps, and if so, where? The way we walk is recorded on God’s ledger, cul minating in the reward-that will be ours in the end. God will guide by His Word and by His Spirit. We must renew our minds by studying the Bible and applying it to
our daily living. We must learn to know His voice. Occasional talks with Him will never do. Is God’s voice familiar and dear so that we readily distinguish it from all others? Guidance is one of the severest tests of the Christian’s walk with God. Prayer, knowledge of the Word, personal temperament, advice of friends, self-re liance, impatience, and degree of sub mission to God in all matters, all be come factors in seeking guidance. They test our personal walk with God to the limit. Then every lesson of prayer, ex perience, and knowledge of God’s Word helps to make His will clear. A life lived for Christ as unselfishly as He lived for us is filled with real happiness"which cannot be expressed in words. “ God never put desire for a Southland in the feathery bosom of a wild duck that he did not see to it that there was a Southland at the end of the flight.” God does not put the deep, burn ing desire in the heart of a Christian to serve Him without first preparing a place in which to serve. One may wonder if he should seek a new place of service. God’s plan does not necessarily mean dislocation but con secration. He is not seeking a new sphere but a new man. It is not trans ference but transformation. The trouble is not with a place but with the condi tion of the man in that place. Until He shows us clearly, we must serve Him where we are. Another may feel that his life has been too full of failures. God alone can take a seemingly broken life and make a beautiful one from the fragments. In a certain old-world town there was a great cathedral with a famous stained glass window. People journeyed far to gaze upon this masterpiece. One day a storm blew the window to the floor shattering it completely. The grief-stricken people gathered up the fragments and stored them in a box. One day a stranger asked permission to see the window. Learning of its sad fate, he asked if he might have the fragments. Taking the broken glass, he went away. Later an invitation 'came to. the custodians of the cathedral from a famous artist in glass- craft inviting them to inspect the latest window wrought by his genius. Placing them before a blank canvas, he pulled the cord, revealing a stained glass win dow of surpassing beauty. “ I wrought this from the fragments of your shat tered bits. It is ready to be replaced.” The splendor of the new window ex celled the glory of the old. God the Creator can take the messed-up frag ments you have made of your life and make them into a life of Christlike beau
"THOU ART W ITH M E " A GAIN we are standing at the be ginning of another new year, three hundred and sixty-five days long. A new year is very much like a long, new road, isn’t it? When traveling, one always likes to talk with some one who has journeyed over the road. Last summer, while tak ing an auto trip in Northern California, we heard of a new way to return home. We read the signs at the entrance to the road, but even then we were not satisfied until we had heard—from some one who had traveled the very same road—that it was safe, and that there were many beautiful scenes along the way. Before we were ready to travel the new road, we needed to be encour aged by the words of one who had jour neyed there. And as we start out to travel the long, long road of 1949, we are glad to know of One who has gone all the way before, even Jesus, our Saviour. In John 10:4 we read: “When he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before." I am so glad for this precious message, aren’t you? And He who has gone ahead all the way has left us, in His Word many promises of the safety of the jour ney with Himself as our personal Guide —-for not only does He go before, but He also journeys with each of us who has received Him as Saviour. In Psalm 23:4 we read these precious words: “ Thou art with me.” Isn’t it wonderful to have a personal Guide to walk by our side and gently guide us all through the “New Year” road of 1949? —M. S. H. Page Eleven
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