8
January 1932
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
hid, which shall not be made manifest. Yes, but let us take it more literally, and so get a very solemn and searching truth which the Holy Spirit would have us take to heart: “ For we must all come without disguise before the judg ment seat of Christ.” It is possible for me to assume a dis guise, to have on a veneer of spirituality with which to de ceive others, and myself also in time. This may continue until the judgment seat is reached; but there that disguise must drop off. God forbid that any one of us should con tinue another moment with any such disguise, trying to veil
well ? Where I live, in my home, and in my place of busi ness, what kind of work am I turning out ? Is. it of such a character that the Heavenly Father could look down and say, “ I am well pleased” ? If this thought were ever in our hearts and minds, would it not revolutionize some of our lives? How careless we can become in our homes in the way in which we talk to one another and treat one another! We get through our daily toil somehow, too often in a casual sort of way. And surely this reveals the fact that there is something wrong and something lacking. We are
our true character. It is not difficult to do this—to pretend to be other than we really are, so that others may be deceived, but we can not deceive Him with whom we have to do. Is there anything more startling for the child of God than to know that, according to the word in John’s first letter, chapter two, verse twenty-eight, he or s h e m a y be “ ashamed before him at his coming” ? Yes, it is possible for the believer at the judg ment seat to blush with shame. God for bid that that should be the lot o f any one of us. May the Holy Spirit search us thor oughly and see if there be any way of grief or sin tolerated in these lives and hearts, so that it may be put away; for we do not know when the end of life’s testimony will come. It may be quite sudden, and w h a t would it mean to be ushered into His pres- e n c e a n d to be ashamed!. Notice t h a t t h e apostle s a y s , “We
not possessed with the ambition that fired the soul of the apostle. For instance, it is so easy to join in the hymn, “ Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing my great Re deemer’s praise,” and within half an hour of doing so, it is possible to be using the one tongue I have, to say something unkind or untrue concerning a fellow believer. This it is which hurts the heart of God and which spoils my testi mony. Beloved, in the sphere of our daily calling, let this have its application, that we may live to commend the gospel a m o n g those with whom we have to do. How often it has been said, “ Oh, yes, he g e t s through somehow or other; he wants to go off to that meeting” ! God does not want us at the meeting if it means that, to get there, we are slack or slipshod in our busi ness. We cannot please Him well in any wit ness or work we seek to take up in His name
YUCCA Called by the Spanish, “Candles of the Lord.'
When 1 am pressed by cares, And all my faith grows dim, Still God’s tapers burn To light my way toward Him Who makes the desert places Blossom as the rose, A nd to my shadowed eyes Heaven’s light foreshows. Splendor of God, far flung, My raptured soul infills. Candles of God, which light His everlasting hills! — M artha S nell N icholson ,
must all appear before the judgment seat o f Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, ac cording to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” You see, the bad is to be dealt with as well as the good. We shall all be gathered in the Father’s home as His children, for we have been born into His family, and there is a place prepared for us yonder. Not one who has been thus regenerated will be missing. That is glorious, but, beloved, when we get there, what is it going to mean to you and to me if we have walked carelessly and wrought selfishly? It is so easy to presume upon our standing in grace, and to think, “ Oh, yes, I shall arrive; I will be there.” That is true, but what will it mean to you and to me when we do get there? For our characters will be re vealed then, as we stand before Him whose eyes are as a
if we are inconsistent in the home and in the sphere of our daily calling. What a testimony it would be if each child of God had this as the dominating passion of heart and life— in the home, in the place of toil, among the circle of friends as well as in the church fellowship, to be well pleas ing unto the Lord ! Let this be the supreme ambition of mind and heart, and let nothing divert us therefrom at any time or in any way. B efore the J udgment S eat of C hrist The apostle says that the incentive to this in his. own soul lies in the fact that “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” That is quite a good translation, but in the Revised Version we read, “ We must all be made manifest.” Our Lord reminds us that there is nothing
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