way over there.” He laid down the rake, walked in a straight line across the playground, bent down and ac tually picked up the hearing aid. When he finished this astonishing account, this fine Christian woman said, “ If God cared so much about a little girl’s hearing aid, how much more He cares about you!” And for the first time in many years the man’s heart was touched, tears came to his eyes and she was able to tell him about Christ. “ Call upon me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things” . . . what more could we ask than to have a man find Christ be cause of a child’s hearing loss? In everything give thanks? Oh, yes! For a child’s deafness? Yes! For a heartache? Yes! For a failure? Yes! For a disappointment? Yes! For the loss of a loved one? Yes! For a tra gedy? Yes! Irrevocably the answer comes, Yes! In everything give thanks! This is because, “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God” (Rom. 8:28). We are quick to taxe wnatever we can get our hands on in the way of earthly abundance. We even set aside a national Thanksgiving Day. But don’t we look ridiculous when we re fuse the cup of salvation for our souls? How can you say thanks to God for food, shelter, health, freedom, and happiness if you have refused His cup of salvation? Don’t you believe Him when He says that “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Taking the cup of salvation means that we take Christ, not as a mere martyr for His principles, but the div ine sacrifice for sins; not merely a great teacher, but a Life-giver who saves men who believe on Him. Refusal to take the golden cup of salvation while heaping up the silver platter of earthly goods is a stinging insult to God. If you are one of these ungrateful people, this would be the right time to confess your sin. The real test of y.our thanksgiving is what you have done with Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Joyce Londorf with her daughter Laurie.
The next afternoon, the cleaning lady had scarcely arrived at school when the custodian showed her my letter and said, “ I found the hearing aid!” Sweetly, she said, “ You did not find it . . . the Lord found it.” Then she told him her whole church had prayed for him that he might locate I n R ussia a man has to work an hour to earn a loaf of bread; in Ameri ca he works only six minutes. For a cotton dress the Russian works 225 hours; the American only 4. Of the two billion people in the world, 85% do not have enough to eat. Few in America are in that 85% although there is injustice and pov erty. How shall we give thanks for all these blessings? A liberal contribu tion to some worthy cause? Celebrate Thanksgiving Day? Long ago a man was searching for a way to show his thanks for all his blessings. He cried out:
the instrument. There was a short pause and then he spun around toward her and said, “You are absolutely right; God did. find it!” Then he ex plained that early that morning he had started raking the playground inch by inch when a voice seemed to say to him, “The aid is not here, but
“ What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me?” And suddenly he answered his own question: “I w ill take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord” — (Psalm 116:12, 13). Strange words, aren’t they? Show gratitude by taking something more. And yet it shouldn’t be so hard to understand. The cup of salvation is the finest gift God has to offer us. It was prepared at great cost because it meant the blood of His own Son. None of His blessings in nature have cost that much. He created all the marvelous resources of this earth out of nothing. But the cup of salvation was costly — God had to surrender His own Son for that! “ Though He was rich, for our sakes He became poor, that we, through His povery might become rich.” — (II Cor. inthians 8:9). If we accept all these other gifts and refuse the one that is best of all are we not miserable ingrates?
15
NOVEMBER, 1962
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker