. What was the sefcret of Paul’s en durance? What enabled him to per severe in the face of hostility, dis couragement, weariness, privation and peril? He lived in close com munion with the Lord Jesus. He literally Jived in Christ, and Christ in him. There flowed into his life continually the grace and strength of Christ. In his daily dying, he was strengthened by the life of the risen, indwelling Lord (2 Cor. 4:11). He was "strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 2:1). He testi fied: “When I am weak, then am I strong” (2 Cor. 12:10). He boasted of his weaknesses rather than com plaining of them, because of the full ness of Christ’s power which he re ceived when he was insulted, perse cuted, and in difficulties and dan gers (2 Cor. 12:9). Only as we main tain such a life of intimate com munion with Christ shall we continue in His service. When we abide in Him, we receive grace which enables us to be “more than conquerors” in the fight (Rom. 8:37). A well-known Christian journalist found himself staying at the same hotel as a celebrated English preach er who was in poor health. He went to hear the minister preach and was amazed that so frail a man could deliver a message so eloquent and powerful. Afterwards, the journalist asked the preacher how he had man aged to speak with such vigor and inspiration, to which question the latter replied, “We get help.” Paul, when persecuted for the faith, never forgot the fact that he himself had once been a persecutor. God in mercy had arrested him in his mad career, had saved him, and, most astounding of all, had appoint ed him as the apostle to the Gen tiles. "Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not” (2 Cor. 4:1). Thé man who ever remembers the wonder of' his own salvation, the honor of being a child of God, has an incentive, to go on with confidence and courage, however hard the path. The less our salvation means to us, the greater is the danger of our becoming dis couraged and giving up the fight. The mercy of God in saving our souls, in making us His sons, in call ing us to His service, is amazing, and even more amazing is it that He still loves us in spite of a thousand fail ures since conversion. This consid eration helps us to bear with those who persecute us, and to continue serving them though our love be un requited. Paul was saved from growing weary in welldoing because he main tained a forward look. Present hap-* penings could not overwhelm him, or crush his spirit, because he constant
ly refreshed his soul by meditating on his glorious inheritance in Christ. The grandeur of his future with Christ saved him from going under when things went hard against him1. Although his old body was decaying, it was of little consequence in view of the day when he would be "absent from the body ... present with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8). The hope of im mortality, of eternal fellowship with Christ, made present trials so light that he could say, “For which cause we faint not... For our light afflic tion, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor. 4:16,17). In the light of the eternal, he reckoned that the sufferings of the present were not worthy of com parison with future glories (Rom. 8:18). A man who looks at things like that will never surrender his ministry. On the other hand, he who aban dons the Christian faith and hope cannot but become a fatalist. H. G. Wells wrote in his last book, Mind at the End of Its Tether: “Mind,
near exhaustion, still makes its final, futile movement towards the way out or around or through the impasse. That is the utmost now that mind can do. And this, its last expiring thrust, is to demonstrate that the door closes upon us forevermore. There is no way out or around or through.” Such must be the despair ing cry of the man who rejects the revelation of God in Christ, for only those who trust in the words of Him who said, “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev. 21:5), can go on hope fully and joyfully. Only those whose hope is fixed in Christ, in His prom ises, in His coming, in His insep arable love, can be strong, stedfast, enthusiastic, and “faithful even unto death.” The way before us is long and hard and uphill, and will be so to the very end; but for those who persevere and endure, there awaits a glorious welcome into heaven; and the Saviour’s “Well Done” for serv ice. The believer alone is an opti mist, who with Robert Browning in vites us: "Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be.”
The Lord is my Shepherd. What want can be mine? M y hand is clasped close in that dear hand oi Thine. Thy pastures are green and Thy waters are still; M y soul is restored as it drinketh its Fill. All day For Thy name's sake Thou leadest my Feet In paths that are righteous and pleasant and sweet. What though through the valley oi death I must go I Fear not its shadow oF evil, I know That Thou wilt go with me each step oF the way, Thy rod and Thy staff For my comfort and stay, I dine at Thy table; Thine own hand doth pour The oil on my head. M y cup runneth o'er. Thy Goodness and Mercy shall not leave my side Till at last in the house of my Lord I abide.
—Martha Snell Nicholson.
PAGE ELEVEN
JULY, 1947
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