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T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
January 1932
*_K s Z aa J — A MOTTO for 1 /,,’ n EW YEAR .. .By HARVEY FARMER,‘ Philadelphia, Pa.
mony at the end pf life ; but why should it not be said of us at the end of each day? Jonathan Edwards used to take stock every night be fore retiring. He would review his walk and work to see how far his life and labors had been in harmony with the divine mind. Why not let us take stock ? Having commit ted ourselves to the keeping power of God and seeking the help of the Holy Spirit as we start out upon each day’s details and duties, then as we come to its close, after thus going over it all in the light of His Word, taking stock and
“Wherefore we labor, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted o f him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat o f Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." ^ ^ his is a message that was sent to the church of God at Corinth and to all the saints which were in all Achaia. Therefore, when we read that the apos tle says, “ We labor to be accepted of him,” we recognize that this has no application to the sinner, to the unsaved soul. Not the labor of my hands But being saved, it is of supreme impor tance that the child of God should recog nize the privileged obligation of the Chris tian life to let its testimony be altogether to the glory of the Name that is above every name. This was a matter of deep concern to the apostle, who says, “ Wherefore we labor.” That is not a bad translation. In the margin of your Bible, you will see another word, “endeavor,” and those of you who ®R- use the Revised Version will notice in the text the word “aim.” But the best word is that which is found in the margin of the Revised rendering, “ ambition.” “ This is my ambition,” says the apostle. “ This is the dominating passion o f my life, this is the thing to which all my energies are directed through the enabling grace of God.” Ambi tious for what? “ To be accepted of him.” But you must put the right emphasis there. We would perhaps get a lit tle more of the thought in the heart of the apostle, as in spired by the Holy Spirit, if the word “ acceptable” rather than “ accepted” had been used. It is one thing to be ac cepted in the Beloved. It is quite another thing for you and me to so live as to be acceptable, to Him. Again in the Revised Version we have the preferable rendering of this latter word so that the phrase would read, “ ambitious to be well pleasing unto him.” Is not that magnificent ? The child of God filled with the ambition to be well pleasing unto Him in every detail of life and service! T aking S tock What a thrill comes to the heart as we read what was said concerning Enoch in those far-away days when God saw “ that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” But amid all the horror and moral down-drag of that day, this one man so walked with God and lived for God’s glory that he had this testimony borne to him, “ He pleased God.” It is fine to have such a testi- Can fulfill Thy law’s demands; Could my zeal no respite know, Could my tears for ever flow, All for sin could not atone; Thou must save, and Thou alone.
committing it all to Him, what a joy it would be to get the echo of the still small voice through our heart, “ My child, I am well pleased” ! That would be a blessed pil low for the heart as well as for the head. And is not that an ambition worth posses sing? Why not let it mark our lives each day? How rich toward God we might be come and what blessing the Holy Spirit could minister through us to others as we sought to follow more closely in the steps of our Master who was able to say, “ I do al ways those things which please my Father” ! For illustrative exemplification of this, let us turn to the record of the life of our adorable Lord and consider two references in the first gospel. In Matthew 3:17, He is coming up out of the water after His bap
F armer
tism, the heavens are opened, the Spirit; like a dove, de scends upon Him, and the Father’s voice is heard, saying, “ This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” In the seventeenth chapter and the fifth verse, the voice is heard again. Christ is on the mount of transfiguration this time. The three years of public ministry are hastening on, and the Father bears the further word of testimony: “ This is my beloved Son, in whom J am well pleased; hear ye him.” Yes, it is well to take hefed to what Moses taught and to what Elijah said, but let no one come between your soul and the Son of my love. His is the only authoritative voice. His is the only infallible word to which you must give earnest heed perpetually. The first voice would have had reference to the years that lay behind— those thirty years, which were spent for the most part, no doubt, in Nazareth, which had not alto gether an enviable reputation. It lay just a little off the main thoroughfare, so that anything could go on there. You know the contempt with which people referred to that part of the country, “ Galilee of the Gentiles,” and that was where our blessed Lord spent most of His days. In that un desirable atmosphere and amid uncongenial circumstances, He lived in the home and wrought at the carpenter’s bench, and the Father bears testimony concerning His life and labor in that village home and work shop: “ My beloved Son, . . . I am well pleased.” W ell P leasing in D aily L ife Fellow child of God, are you, am I, pleasing the Father
*Secretary and Field Superintendent of The North Africa Mission.
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